Labour deputy Labour leader Toni Abela was a clown because he leered at a female puppet’s breasts and then called it “horny”, columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia said in court yesterday.

Dr Abela’s conduct was unbecoming of a politician and one wondered how he could not expect to be criticised when he did such things on television, she said.

Ms Caruana Galizia was testifying in a libel suit Dr Abela instituted against her in September 2008 over an article entitled “Ajma x’biża, an earthquake warning, ħej” (My, how scary, an earthquake warning), posted on her blog on August 12, 2008.

In the paragraph that Dr Abela deemed offensive, Ms Caruana Galizia called him, former Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia and former Labour general secretary Jason Micallef “clowns, idiots and incompetents”.

She said she could not understand why Dr Abela had taken exception to her comment. If she had to prove how incompetent he was, she would have to spend two years testifying due to the amount of material she would produce.

Ms Caruana Galizia said she called him a clown after he appeared on One Television show teletubi where he was seen leering at a female puppet’s breasts and calling it “horny”.

Such behaviour, she added, was inappropriate for the deputy leader of the Labour Party.

She added that had she lied about Dr Abela by making a serious allegation, such as accusing him of theft, then she should be censured but in this case she only expressed her opinion as she was entitled to do in a democratic country.

Under cross-examination, Dr Abela asked whether he had ever offended her and she replied he was one of a “whole swamp” of people who regularly offended her.

Dr Abela insisted he did not have any role in the Labour Party at the time the programme was broadcast and that he had never offended her.

Asked whether she had ever seen other politicians dressed up as woman on popular talk show Xarabank, Ms Caruana Galizia said she did not watch the programme often but if it was for charity it would have been acceptable.

However, in her view, the comments passed by Dr Abela were offensive to women.