‘The police will help’

Business leader Vince Farrugia received reassurance from a colleague that the police would be pitching in to help in the assault case against developer Sandro Chetcuti, according to an SMS exchange read out in court yesterday.

The exchange of text messages was between Mr Farrugia, director general of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, and the organisation’s vice president Philip Fenech.

In one message, Mr Fenech reassures Mr Farrugia that the “police will be helping us”.

Mr Fenech was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Mr Chetcuti, 38, a former member of the GRTU, who stands charged with attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on Mr Farrugia at his office in Valletta in March 2010.

In one of the SMSs, sent by Mr Fenech on March 12, 2010, Mr Farrugia is told that ... “the commissioner (is) on our side... he helped all the way called about four times...”

Asked to explain the contents of this message, Mr Fenech said he was actually referring to Assistant Commissioner Neville Aquilina, to whom he had spoken soon after the case so that GRTU staff who witnessed the incident would give statements to the police.

He said he knew Mr Aquilina in his capacity as a person who ran the Paceville bar BJs.

In the next line of the same text message, Mr Fenech says: “The AC told me they are very strong and credible” and that he “will guide them on what to careful for when testifying”. In his explanation, Mr Fenech said the GRTU staff were young and did not have any experience in court so he helped them through it. “They were extremely traumatised,” he said.

Questions sent yesterday to the police asking them to reply to allegations of discussions between the police and Mr Fenech on testimonies remained unanswered by the time of going to print.

Mr Fenech was being quizzed by defence counsel Manwel Mallia on several SMSs he sent Mr Farrugia, including one in which he boasted that he had spoken to Corradino prisons’ acting director Abraham Zammit.

Asked whether he was bluffing, Mr Fenech replied that his messages to Mr Farrugia were intended to make him feel comfortable after the assault.

In another SMS sent to Mr Fenech, Mr Farrugia instructs him to: “Get the commissioner to make sure Sandro is in Kordin (prison) for a long time.”

“Who do you think you are ­trying to influence justice by exchanging messages and calls with the director of prisons and coaching the GRTU staff who witnessed the case on how to testify?” Dr Mallia asked Mr Fenech without giving him time to react.

He proceeded to read out other SMSs from Mr Farrugia, which refer to comments and blogs being posted on timesofmalta.com and how these “must be organised” so “hardly anyone says a good word for him” (Mr Chetcuti).

In another SMS, Mr Farrugia asks Mr Fenech to “talk to (the late President Emeritus) Guido (de Marco) as he has influence on Manwel Mallia (Mr Chetcuti’s defence lawyer).

“Tell him how serious this was. Tell him how he is threatening people dwar meta jitla’ l-Labour” (on when the Labour Party gets elected to office).

During yesterday’s sitting, the defence also quizzed Mr Farrugia’s son, Jan-Karl, on several SMSs exchanged with his father.

In one of them, Mr Farrugia tells his son to run a detailed search on Mr Chetcuti and his pending cases, “especially if accused of fraud” and “any police action”.

In this SMS he also tells him to “do his homework” and “speak to the prosecution”... “Leave nothing to chance and no stone unturned.”

Reacting to this, Dr Farrugia said that many of the exchanges should not be read as messages between father and son but as client and lawyer since his son was his lawyer even in this case.

In a subsequent text message Mr Farrugia told his son to “set the ball rolling” and ensure he testified first in the case “as I’m worried the others (witnesses) are mixing things up and they are not saying that he (Mr Chetcuti) was screaming ‘noqtlok, noqtlok’ (I’ll kill you) as he was hitting me and I can’t believe they did not hear him”.

At the beginning of the sitting, the prosecution objected to the presence of former Police Assistant Commissioner Manuel Cassar standing behind the defence bench. Inspector James Grech said he should be seated in the space allocated to the public.

He pointed out that Mr Cassar was Mr Chetcuti’s father-in-law.

Dr Mallia replied saying Mr Cassar, who was a policeman for 38 years, was a “paralegal” person and was helping him in the case.

Magistrate Edwina Grima turned down the objection.

The case continues in November.