Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano will tomorrow sum up for jurors before they start deliberations on the fate of David Zerafa, who is accused of killing a Gozitan lawyer in 2004.
The eyes of the accused are etched in her mind
Jurors yesterday heard the prosecution and defence make final submissions in the week-long trial of Mr Zerafa, charged with killing lawyer Michael Grech.
The prosecution has called for a life sentence while the defence claimed Mr Zerafa was not even present at the scene of the crime in Marsalforn when Dr Grech was shot and beaten to death with a baseball bat as he returned home.
In his address, Philip Galea Farrugia from the Attorney General’s office insisted the testimonies of key witnesses Rodney Vella and Dr Grech’s wife, Maria, were corroborated by evidence.
Dr Galea Farrugia said it would have been impossible for Mr Vella to have known all the details of the murder unless he was informed of them by someone who was involved.
Mr Vella was one of two inmates who claimed that Mr Zerafa had confessed to them that he had killed Dr Grech. It is alleged he divulged details of what happened. The other inmate, Steve Spiteri, has since died.
He insisted the details provided by the inmates to police, such as the axe that Mr Zerafa kept at home, could not have been known to them. Mr Zerafa had admitted speaking to the inmates but later said he was bluffing.
Turning to the evidence of Ms Grech, the prosecutor said she had identified the defendant twice from his eyes in different police ID parades in 2005.
“The eyes of the accused are etched in her mind,” he told jurors. Ms Grech’s interest is to do justice with her husband’s killer and nobody else, he added.
Dr Galea Farrugia questioned the credibility of the testimony given by Mr Zerafa’s two brothers, Emanuel and Jeffrey Zerafa, who provided an alibi for the accused.
“Their testimony is identical... they were a clone of each other,” Dr Galea Farrugia said, playing down the significance of what the brothers said.
Defence lawyer Malcolm Mifsud insisted the proof and testimony presented in the trial did not point towards his client’s guilt.
He said murder was a serious offence and jurors had a duty to deliver a guilty verdict only if they were convinced beyond reasonable doubt. Dr Mifsud insisted Mr Vella was lying.
Dr Mifsud said a big question mark hung over the timeline of events in July 2005 when the police first got wind of information of the Grech murder.
Quoting from submissions police inspector Chris Pullicino made during the compilation of evidence eight years ago, Dr Mifsud said police had received information that there were people with information on the Grech murder on July 6 that year.
Dr Mifsud said it was impossible for Mr Vella to have obtained details of the murder from Mr Zerafa on July 6.
“My client only spoke to Rodney Vella on the evening of July 6 and all he told him was that he had once been interrogated by police on the Grech murder.”
Dr Mifsud insisted that Mr Vella was either given the story by someone else and decided to pin it on Mr Zerafa, or was present at the scene of the crime.
Turning to Ms Grech’s evidence that she recognised the defendant from his eyes, Dr Mifsud insisted it was impossible to identify a man by looking at his eyes for a split second.
There were enough doubts to acquit Mr Zerafa of the crimes he was accused of, Dr Mifsud submitted, urging jurors to be clinical in their assessment. “Unlike any other new job, you cannot make a mistake,” he insisted.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com