Blackmail over a compromising photo and exorbitant loan repayments led a desperate Jason Galea to kill the man threatening him, a court heard yesterday.

Matthew Zahra, 27, of Valletta, was shot twice in the head before he was buried in a Birżebbuġa field after he threatened Mr Galea to use the photo in an attempt to extort money, police officers alleged.

They were testifying in the case against Mr Galea and Ronald Urry, 49, of Birżebbuġa, who are pleading not guilty to Mr Zahra’s murder.

Mr Galea, the officers said, had borrowed €10,000 from Mr Zahra, on behalf of a family member who ended up defaulting on the €1,000 monthly repayments.

Mr Galea had been arrested and released over Mr Zahra’s disappearance on August 15 last year. He was held again after the corpses of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, L-Imnieħru, and his 21-year-old son, Mario Jr, were found in July.

Mr Galea, together with George Galea, 41, of St Julian’s, is also accused of murdering the father and son. Reacting to questions by defence lawyer Joe Giglio, who mentioned a photograph, Police Sergeant Geoffrey Gerada said he did not wish to refer to it because it was something very “personal”.

No details of the picture were disclosed in court.

Sgt Gerada said that Mr Galea told him he met Mr Zahra in Marsaxlokk on August 15, 2012, to hand over €10,000 in cash. He decided to do it in secret because he did not want his wife to realise that he had sold a valuable gold necklace to raise the money.

‘Opening field gate was signal to shoot’

When asked why Mr Zahra had demanded the cash, the accused said that Mr Zahra had said that he had been involved in stealing €700,000 worth of jewellery and an individual who did not take part still wanted his share.

Mr Galea said that Mr Zahra had told him the stolen jewellery was sold to George Tabone of Gram Jewellers.

After meeting near the football club in Marsaxlokk, Mr Zahra got into a white Skoda Felicia driven by Mr Galea and the two drove to a field in Qajjenza, limits of Birżebbuġa.

The accused told Mr Zahra cash and drugs were buried in the field there but, unbeknown to him, Mr Urry was hiding behind a prickly pear bush.

Mr Galea told the police that he had placed a brick in the road to mark the spot where he should stop the car so that the passenger window on the side where Mr Zahra was seated would be directly opposite the bush.

The signal for Mr Urry to shoot Mr Zahra was when Mr Galea got out of the car and opened the gate leading to the field.

He said Mr Urry shot the victim twice in the head and they both dumped the body in the field and washed their hands and faces in a room there.

They cleaned the car then went home to shower.

Mr Galea said he disposed of the blood-soaked passenger seat head rest in a grey plastic box near his house.

The weapon was thrown into the sea at Marsaxlokk and Mr Zahra’s mobile phone was broken in two and thrown away near the archaeological site at Għar Dalam.

The accused told Matthew Zahra cash and drugs were buried in the field but, unbeknown to him, Ronald Urry was hiding behind a prickly pear bush

Mona Camilleri, wife and mother of the deceased Camilleris, who is also Mr Galea’s sister, testified that she was told by her niece, Krystle, that Mr Galea had borrowed her car and she suspected he had killed someone in it.

She said her niece was upset at how badly Mr Galea had treated the car and returned it in bad condition with a broken stereo.

Ms Camilleri said she confronted her brother who told her to not pay any attention to Krystle, adding that their niece should wash the car with bleach.

Police Inspector Melvyn Camilleri said he had investigated the disappearance of Mr Zahra and asked for his mobile phone logs.

On the day he went missing, he had sent an SMS at 5.17am and received a reply a few seconds later and a phone call at 5.20am when he was still in Valletta.

At 6.04am, his phone was registered in Marsaxlokk where he had received a call from a number that came into use on August 10 and used exclusively to contact him. The SIM card for this number was found in Mr Galea’s house, the officer said.

He said that Mr Zahra had also received an SMS at 4.57am from a number registered to a certain Mary Grace Farrugia, who told the police that she had given her phone to her son, Leslie, who, in turn, gave it to Mr Urry.

Mr Farrugia’s number was registered near the field at 5.45am.

The case continues.