Tears shed as jurors hear widow of murdered man

The widow of a man murdered callously while on the job moved two jurors and a court usher to tears yesterday as she gave a heart wrenching account of recognising her bloodied husband as he lay on the ground.

Mary Ferriggi walked the jurors through the murder scene, recounting how she spotted her husband’s hand through a group of men who were standing around the body.

She lifted the police tape and walked towards the body. On coming to the realisation that it was him, she was overcome with emotion and anger and wanted to run, grab him and bring him back to life.

“How could someone murder such a good-hearted family man, who was just doing his job to feed his family?” she asked filled with emotion, as she looked at the jurors from the witness stand.

She was testifying in the trial by jury of Richard Grech, 44, also known as Iz-Zinanna of Qormi, who stands charged with murdering Mr Ferriggi on September 18, 2000 outside a San Ġwann branch of Bank of Valletta.

The couple had started their day as any other, by washing clothes and “Alfie” getting ready to leave the house and start his shift at the bank, where he worked as a messenger delivering mail.

He made her a coffee and kissed her goodbye, promising to return a little earlier to give her a lift to work later that morning.

Sometime after 6 a.m. her mother-in-law phoned and in a panic asked her if she had heard the news on the radio about the hold-up that had taken place in front of the bank. “It’s him, I know it’s him,” the mother told her.

Mrs Ferriggi immediately called her husband on his mobile phone but there was no answer. She phoned the garage where the company delivery cars were kept but nobody answered the call.

She got into her car and drove towards the bank but in her confused state she was not entirely sure in which direction she was driving, she said. She somehow made it to the bank, drove into a parking spot and walked towards the scene, first recognised her husband’s hand. The next thing she rememberedwas seeing her husband’s shirt full of blood.

Back home she was wondering how she was going to tell her son and decided to let him sleep on a little longer before breaking the news. The phone rang again and it was her mother-in-law who asked her if it was Alfie. She assured her it was not him, justifying herself with the jurors: “How could I tell her that her son had been murdered.”

As her testimony drew to a close, two jurors were seen wiping tears from their faces, while a court usher, clutching a tissue, was also visibly moved by what she had just heard.

Mrs Ferriggi stepped down from the witness stand and walked straight out at a determined pace as she went past the accused who, moments later, stood up to testify. He admitted to taking part in the planned hold-up but denied actually going to the scene of the crime, claiming that, because of his drinking problem, he had left just before his friends went to the bank.

The testimony, however, took an unusual turn when Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano allowed prosecutor Aaron Bugeja to read out Mr Grech’s criminal record to the jurors – a highly uncustomary procedure. Past trials have had to be dissolved when accidental references were made to the criminal past of defendants, as that it is considered prejudicial.

However, the judge yesterday upheld an argument by the prosecutor who said that since the defence team had discredited his witnesses by bringing up their criminal records during cross examination, he should be allow­ed to do the same with the accused. The judge upheld the request, on the strength of an article in the Criminal Code which allows a few scenarios where a defendant’s criminal record can be used in a trial. The criminal record went back to 1985 and included everything from involuntary homicide to animal cruelty.

Mr Grech insisted in his testimony that the mastermind of the crime was James Vella, known as Il-Frejżer, and that another two men, Chris Scerri known as Gazzetti or Buttuni and Joseph Zammit also took part. Two years ago, Mr Zammit was jailed for 30 years for his part in the crime.

Mr Grech said that at the time he had a serious drinking problem and used to down a bottle of wine in two minutes. He also admitted to bragging about being the man who had killed the victim but said he had done so because he was threatened by Mr Vella.

He added that Mr Vella was capable of even murdering his own children if he had to, adding that he had broken his own mother’s teeth.

The case continues.