All he said was pure lies, accused says of witness

A categorical denial from a highly strung Nigerian accused of drug importation characterised ­pro-c­eedings that went on for 12 and half hours in his trial ­yesterday.

Taking the witness stand, Augustine Onuchukwu, 49, who is also pleading not guilty to conspiring to import almost a kilogramme of heroin to Malta, rejected the allegations made by the main witness who implicated him in the operation.

Convicted drug courier Efosa Efionayi, 28, said he knew the accused and had travelled with him twice from Brussels to Malta. The second time, on April 20, 2008, Mr Efionayi was caught carrying the drugs in capsules he had swallowed.

Mr Onuchukwu was in an agitated state yesterday and had to be told by Mr Justice Michael Mallia to slow down numerous times as his testimony tumbled out in a thick Nigerian accent that was hard to comprehend.

As he was denying the allegations, he clutched a small copy of the Bible.

He said he had never met the other man but recalled that before boarding a flight to Malta, Mr Efionayi had told him “hello brother” in a greeting that one black person would usually say to another.

Other than that he had never laid eyes on him except after they were arrested.

Asked during cross examination why he wanted to come to Malta, the accused, who lived in Greece, said he had a friend there by the name of Aristotle who told him that he could open a business in Malta since during the summer months there was a “party vibe” on the island.

Mr Onuchukwu explained that in Greece he owned a hip hop clothing store and after speaking to Aristotle he came to find out more about opening a business here.

Aristotle gave him the number of a man called Ali who happened to be the same person named by Mr Efionayi as his supplier of drugs to bring to Malta.

In fact both the accused and Mr Efionayi had the same contact number in their mobile phones.

Asked why he had four mobile phones and 16 SIM cards, the accused said he collected them as a hobby and that each phone contained a number pertaining to a different country. One was a Dutch phone, one an American, one a Greek and the other didn’t work.

Prosecutor Aaron Bugeja asked him why he thought Mr Efionayi was lying about him and more specifically if he knew any reasons why he would want to make such serious allegations against him.

The accused said that “he wished he knew”, adding that he might find out one day and that “everything Efosa said was pure lies”.

The case continues.