Business leader Vince Farrugia was confronted in court with SMS messages he had sent to his lawyer calling for a witness who would say “any blow could have killed” him, as the attempted murder case against his alleged assailant Sandro Chetcuti resumed yesterday.

The 65-year-old director general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU lost his temper when he was asked to explain the messages and had to be told to stop shouting by the magistrate.

Mr Farrugia, who was allegedly attacked by former collaborator and GRTU council member Mr Chetcuti, 38, last year, faced a cross examination by defence lawyer Emmanuel Mallia.

Dr Mallia read out the SMS messages one by one and asked Mr Farrugia to say why they had been sent.

In the most salient message, Mr Farrugia told his lawyer, who is also his son Jean Carl, that “we have left the matter of the certificate too much in their hands” (loose translation from the Maltese), and added that one of the medical witnesses needed to say that “any blow could have killed him”.

Mr Farrugia argued that what he meant was that he did not want any of the medics beating about the bush and that he wanted them to highlight the injuries he suffered. A man of his age receiving blows to the upper body could have died from such an attack and it was a matter that he wanted to bring out fully, he insisted.

Another part of the SMS said that if the witnesses testified in a “soft” way, both the police, he and his son would be left looking like fools.

Here too, Mr Farrugia defended himself saying that if witnesses said the truth and were not afraid of testifying then he would not look like a fool but the full extent of his injuries needed to emerge.

In the same SMS, Mr Farrugia told his son to speak to Conrad Borg (the doctor who had first examined him) and consultant radiologist Anthony Samuel to “get advice” from them.

An SMS sent to Mr Farrugia by his daughter Marie Claire read: “Hi pa, I just asked Anthony Samuel (consultant radiologist) to do a special scan on your ribs to check if there’s a fracture (no difference in terms of treatment, but helps court case). He will contact you through jan karl.”

The mention of Dr Samuel is important because during the proceedings, his medical findings were discredited by two court-appointed experts who said the injuries were not grievous, as Dr Samuel had claimed, but slight and could have even been caused by a strong cough.

In another SMS, this time sent from St Julians Mayor Peter Bonello to Mr Farrugia and then forwarded to his son, Mr Farrugia was told he needed to see a “professor” who would not “be afraid of his own shadow” when testifying.

Asked why he had forwarded this message to Jean Carl Farrugia, the witness said he forwarded everything to his son which could have an influence on the case.

Dr Mallia asked him to confirm that he had twice asked for the full list of SMSs to be removed from the proceedings, to which Mr Farrugia said he did so because there was sensitive and confidential information, such as messages from the Prime Minister and MPs.

The messages were obtained after the defence asked for Mr Farrugia’s mobile phone contents and that of his son to be extracted at the beginning of the proceedings.

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