On July 16, 2014, the University’s Faculty of Law presented an award for academic excellence to Judge Maurice Caruana Curran, who graduated as a lawyer in 1943.

During a short period as a defence lawyer Caruana Curran assisted one of the five men accused of planning and committing the 1948 Dockyard payroll robbery. The following year he joined the Office of the Crown Advocate General (now the Attorney General), where he became a spectacular figure in most murder trials of the 1950s and 1960s.

His first murder case was that of Ġużeppi Mizzi in January 1950, and in February 1951 he conducted the prosecution in the trial of Ġanni Cutajar, who was charged with the attempted homicide of Dom Mintoff and Victor Meli. However, Caruana Curran’s greatest triumph came in 1956 during the Għallis Tower murder trial.

On Thursday February 24, 1955, Malta was stunned by the news that an employee of the Malta Millers Association, Toninu Aquilina, aged 35, had vanished without a trace. At about 11.45am he had left his place of work to deposit a large sum in cash and cheques at the National Bank of Malta in Republic Street, Valletta, (near the Presidential Palace). The association then had its office in South Street, Valletta (near the General Workers’ Union headquarters).

Aquilina made daily deposits in the same bank, and every other Thursday he deposited substantial amounts, as on those particular days the association received more payments. In fact, on February 24, the sum to be deposited was £15,315.

Normally Aquilina carried the money in a small suitcase but since the only notes at that time were pound notes, £800 were wrapped in paper as there was not enough space in the suitcase.

Aquilina left the office at about 11am and 15 minutes later the cashier of the association called at the bank to check whether he had deposited the money. It appeared that when he was counting the money the cashier was not sure about the exact amount and the sum could have been £2 short of the amount indicated. The cashier did not suspect that anything was wrong when the bank official informed him that Aquilina had not yet called at the bank. However, on that day Aquilina never reached the bank.

Aquilina worked with the association only in the mornings; after the usual bank deposits he attended Mass at the Jesuits’ church in Merchants Street, then had lunch at his father’s, and in the afternoon worked as a gilder with Paul Francalanza, also in Valletta. In the evening, he would return to his house in Gudja but on his way to the Castile bus terminus he would return the bank deposits book at the association’s office. That fateful afternoon Aquilina was not seen in church, nor was he spotted in the other places. Neither did he return home.

The trial, undoubtedly one of the most famous ever in Malta, was based on circumstantial evidence and lasted 15 days, the longest trial until then. The accused was found guilty by an eight-to-one verdict

When Aquilina did not return home at the usual time, his wife called the Gudja police station, but the constable on duty told her to call back after the arrival of the last bus from Valletta. The worried woman did what she was told, and when the police received the report that the man was missing, they began their investigation.

Their inquiries revealed that Aquilina had neither gone to his father’s house nor to Francalanza’s shop, and at first it was suspected he had fled with the money. Preventive measures were taken at the airport and seaport, and a search was carried out at his house. Meanwhile, the association offered the sum of £100 for information regarding the discovery of the money or Aquilina.

Nearly a fortnight after Aquilina’s disappearance, on March 9, 1955, his corpse was discovered by accident. Some members of the Civil Defence on a training exercise duty near the Għallis Tower at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq ventured inside the tower only for an offensive smell coming from an empty well inside the tower to assault their nostrils. Curious and worried about the smell, they called the police, and Aquilina’s corpse was found in the well covered with a piece of plywood, some newspapers, and part of a sack.

The autopsy report showed that Aquilina had been shot in the neck and a bullet of 6.35mm was extracted from his brain. Ballistic experts said the weapon used was a Bernadelli automatic pistol. The doctors also found an internal lesion on his right thigh and it was highly likely that this lesion was made by a syringe when a chemical substance was injected.

When members of the Criminal Investigation Department began making inquiries about Aquilina’s disappearance, they got to know that on February 24, J. Brincat Dunkerley had seen Aquilina between 11.15 and 11.30am. Brincat Dunkerely said he knew Aquilina and that he had met him opposite the side door of the Auberge d’Italie in Britannica Street (now Melita Street). Another witness, Alfred Zammit, a relative of Aquilina’s, said he had seen Aquilina near the Palace (opposite the Main Guard) at about 11.30am.

Further police investigations revealed that on February 24 a cashier of the National Bank of Malta was on vacation leave. It was also established that the cashier was licensed to keep a Bernadelli automatic pistol. However, he could not show it to the police as he said that he had lost it at Ramla Bay. These coincidences placed the cashier on top of the list of prime suspects.

On March 24, 1955, the suspect was questioned by Superintendent C. Floridia, who was in charge of the CID. In his first statement the suspect said that he had not been to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq since February 25, 1955. However, in another statement he said that on February 24, he had driven his parents to their house in Sliema and later proceeded to St Julian’s where he picked a woman, whom he did not know, and drove her to Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

He also said that they had to stop near Qrejten Tower (about one kilometre away from Għallis Tower) as the car broke down. He said that he had given the woman £3 and she left him, and then he walked all the way to St Julian’s.

On April 4, 1955, the cashier was arrested and interrogated once more. In a new statement he said that on the morning of February 24, he had stayed at home but the police provided evidence that he had not. Anthony Scerri, owner of the Central Bar, told the police that he had seen the cashier near the Palace at about 8 or 8.30am.

Moreover, Filomena Calleja, who knew the suspect well, told the police that she had seen him in a black car between 10.30 and 11.15am. She said the cashier was in the back seat and that there were two others in the car. Another witness said she had seen the cashier in South Street, Valletta, between 10 and 10.30am.

In spite of this evidence, the police could not make headway in the case and the suspect was released. For this reason, on May 20, the newly-elected Prime Minister, Dom Mintoff, announced during a Legislative Assembly session that the aid of Scotland Yard was being sought as the local CID had no specialised investigators or a forensic laboratory at its disposal. The government also offered a reward of £3,000 to anyone who gave information leading to the arrest of the murderer.

On May 23, Inspector Albert Victor Griffin and Seargeant Henry William Pugh arrived in Malta and were temporarily appointed superintendent and inspector respectively of the Malta Police Force and took charge of the investigations. Lewis Nicholls, director of the Metropolitan Police Laboratory of Scotland Yard, also came to Malta.

A section of the British press followed the murder case and a journalist of the Daily Mirror reported accounts of the investigations from Malta. In one of these reports it was said that a search for the murder weapon had been conducted in the vicinity of Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq and divers of the Royal Navy had taken part in the extensive search. The divers also searched at Ramla Bay for the weapon. Both searches proved futile and the Bernadelli pistol used to fire the lethal bullet was never recovered.

In the course of the investigation, bullets from 524 pistols were examined and compared with the crime bullet without success. Colonel Stephen Borg also helped Nicholls in this task.

Certain interesting facts, however, came to light as a result of the examination. Bernadelli pistols with serial numbers from 28,000 to 67,000 were examined and it was found that a groove width had been altered at least five times, a fact which the firm itself was not aware of. Thus, the crime bullet was assigned to the 61,000 series, and cashier’s pistol belonged to this series.

Meanwhile, in a car with registration number 12764, which the suspect had hired on February 23, Nicholls found fibres that matched those of the sack that covered Aquilina’s corpse. Flakes of red and white paint found on some of the suspect’s clothing also matched the paint found at the entrance to Għallis Tower. But the most important circumstantial evidence was the piece of plywood found near the body.

The prisoner was released by warrant of September 19, 1964, after an amnesty on the occasion of Malta’s independence

On this piece of plywood the letters C de G were painted in black. These markings led the police to Carlo de Giorgio, an importer of medicines. On being questioned, the importer told the police that the plywood came from a box in which medicines were imported to Malta by his firm, one of the many empty boxes he had sold to Salvu Baldacchino. When questioned, Baldacchino admitted that the plywood came from a box he had bought, adding that he had given a lid of one of the boxes to the bank cashier.

The extensive investigation continued with the exhumation of Aquilina’s corpse after approval had been sought by the inquiring magistrate. This took place at Gudja cemetery on July 16, 1955, and material from the corpse was sent for analysis at the Metropolitan Police Laboratory at Scotland Yard. Examinations were also carried out on the paint flakes, polythene fibres, and bloodstains.

Armed with this evidence, the police charged the 31-year-old cashier, George Terreni, with the murder of Aquilina. During the compilation of evidence, for the first time in police history, the prosecution was conducted by Caruana Curran.

The trial began on July 23, 1956, and the court was presided by Mr Justice A.J. Montanaro Gauci, assisted by Mr Justice V. Camilleri and Mr Justice J. Caruana Colombo. Caruana Curran conducted the prosecution while the accused was assisted by Vincent Xerri and John Pullicino.

The trial, undoubtedly one of the most famous ever in Malta, was based on circumstantial evidence and lasted 15 days, the longest trial until then. The accused was found guilty by an eight-to-one verdict. It was rumoured that one of the jurors was against capital punishment, which was then still legal in Malta. The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Writing in The Bullettin some days after the trial, Sir Arturo Mercieca, who in 1940 was asked to tender his resignation from the post of Chief Justice, made some comments and suggestions about the police investigations and the trial. Mercieca, using the pen name ‘Cato’ criticised the inadequacy of the CID and the insufficiency of the machinery placed at its disposal. Cato also criticised the removal of traces from the spot where the victim was found and the fact that Għallis Tower was left unguarded and left open and accessible to all.

He also mentioned that some surprise had arisen in legal circles about the fact that no mention was made, and no charge was proferred in the bill of indictment, as to the theft of a very substantial sum of money, which after all, was the motive for the homicide. Other remarks by Cato were about the handling of exhibits, police questioning and the identification of the wife of the accused during the trial.

Caruana Curran, using the pen name ‘Barrister’ replied to the comments made by Cato. Barrister agreed that as regard the scientific reconstruction of the CID, Cato’s comments were indeed true and constructive.

However, he rectified Cato’s complaint about the production of the wife of the accused for the sole purpose of being identified by a witness for the prosecution.

Barrister wrote that since the accused had set up the defence of alibi on the grounds that his wife was sick at home on a certain day, the prosecution acted correctly when it did not renounce to its legal right to produce the wife without asking here any question.

The brilliant lawyer also quoted an 1868 case when Judge Sir Antonio Micallef and two other judges allowed similar procedure and no objection was raised by the defence.

Since at that time there was then no criminal court of appeal in Malta, an appeal before the judicial committee of the Privy Council was made, but it failed.

Pullicino, who appeared for the defence in several important trials in the criminal court, briefed Sir John Foster, QC, and Alan Campell for the London appeal. In his book, A Lawyer at Large, Pullicino wrote: “It was, as I said, a difficult case; the Privy Council rarely interfered with the judgment of a colonial court without very special and cogent reasons; you must have something more than grounds which might be sufficient to be accepted by an ordinary appeal court.”

In 1960, Governor Sir Guy Grantham commuted the life sentence to 20 years’ imprisonment. The prisoner was released by warrant of September 19, 1964, after an amnesty on the occasion of Malta’s independence.