Missing man Matthew Zahra was murdered after demanding €500,000 in interest on some €6,000 he had lent the man who killed him, a court heard yesterday.
Jason Galea, 39, of Birżebbuġa and Ronald Urry, 49, of Paola admitted to the murder of Mr Zahra, 27, from Valletta, after he told Mr Galea to pay him an exorbitant rate of interest, Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said.
The inspector was quick to point out that there was no hard evidence, such as receipts or documents, to back up this claim and he was relaying the details of Mr Galea’s confession to the murder.
The officer gave a brief outline of Mr Galea’s “detailed” explanation and plan to kill Mr Zahra but stopped short of going into detail himself, saying investigations were still underway.
Mr Galea had been arrested over the disappearance of Mr Zahra shortly after he went missing on August 15 last year but was rearrested following the discovery of the corpses of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, known as L-Imnieħru, and his 21-year-old son Mario two weeks ago. In separate proceedings Mr Galea also stands charged, together with George Galea, 41, of St Julian’s, of murdering the father and son.
As police sifted through mounds of soil in the Birżebbuġa field where the Camilleris bodies were discovered, bones that police believe belong to Mr Zahra were also found. They have yet to be formally identified.
Inspector Pullicino said Jason Galea had confessed to the killing and also implicated Mr Urry who admitted to his involvement after initially denying it.
The officer presented the court with three DVDs where the confession and details were recorded on film.
Jason Galea and Mr Zahra allegedly had a dispute over €6,000 which the victim had lent his assailant.
Mr Zahra then began pumping up the interest rate and the amount owing soon escalated to €500,000, with Jason Galea unable to cope with the repayments, he told police.
He was failing to pay his employees’ salaries and was under pressure to come up with the cash, with Mr Zahra pursuing him in the months leading up to the murder. Mr Zahra had purchased a garage from Premier Car Sales and had forced him to make the repayments on it, Jason Galea said.
He added that Mr Zahra’s father Ċensu, who stood as a guarantor in the purchase, threatened him over the payments due. He had made him sign cheques adding up to €36,000 in repayments, Jason Galea said.
The owner of the garage, Gaetano Fenech, had also threatened him in relation to the payments, Jason Galea said.
Inspector Pullicino said Mr Fenech denied outright making such threats let alone speaking to Jason Galea, as the person he always dealt with was the victim’s father.
An agreement was later reached between Mr Fenech and Mr Zahra to have the garage returned, the inspector said. Magistrate Edwina Grima ruled there was enough evidence to place the men under a bill of indictment and deferred the case to early September.