Reluctant witness testifies after 24 hours in a cell

A pivotal witness in the trial of a man charged with murdering a bank messenger yesterday started testifying following 24 hours spent in a court house cell after a judge warned him to tell the truth.

Joseph Zammit, 52, of Floriana, who has already been jailed for 30 years for his part in the murder, yesterday said that three men had turned up at his house on the fateful night and asked him to drive a getaway car. Those men were James Vella, known as Il-Frejżer, Chris Scerri, Buttuni, and the accused, Richard Grech, 44, of Qormi, known as Iz-Zinanna.

He was threatened so he decided to go along, insisting that he knew nothing else as he could not remember anything else.

Mr Zammit was testifying in the case against Mr Grech, who is charged with the murder of Alphonse Ferriggi outside a Bank of Valletta branch in San Ġwann during a robbery in 2000.

Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano had warned him three times on Tuesday to start telling the truth or he would initiate proceedings against him. If fact, the witness was locked up overnight in a court house cell.

Prompted further yesterday, he said he had slept in the getaway car in San Ġwann while the robbery was going on, adding that all three men then turned up in another car, got into the car he was in and he drove off.

On further questioning, he said he had been threatened over a number of years and his wife had received phone calls and his children death threats. At this point, the judge asked him to say who had threatened him and he said he did not know.

During cross examination, he said the man who told police about the whole operation, Ninu Frendo, also known as Il-Ballerin, had a drug problem and had only gone to the police and implicated everyone because he wanted to seek a reduction in the potential punishment for his own drug-related cases.

Mr Zammit said he did not know who fired the gun and killed the victim.

Another witness, Justin Fenech, is expected to testify this morning after he suffered a fit on Monday and was taken by ambulance to hospital.

The testimony of another important witness, Dominic Chircop, was read out because he is abroad.

Mr Chircop told the police he had bought a car from Mr Frendo and went to make one of his monthly payments to him at his garage a few days after the incident. There, he overheard an argument between Mr Zammit and Mr Frendo.

He heard Mr Frendo shouting at Mr Zammit and telling him to take his car away from the garage. Mr Zammit said: “I told him not to shoot him, I stayed in the field.”

The accused looked very worried and after the argument was shaking, he added.

The case continues.

Lawyers Mark Vassallo and Chris Cardona appeared for the accused.