[attach id=405434 size="medium"]Brian Rosso[/attach]
A judge yesterday put off a murder trial after accepting a request from the Attorney General to have the murder suspect and his alleged accomplice stand trial together, to save time and costs.
Piero Di Bartolo, 41, a Sicilian man who lives in Malta, was due to face a trial by jury, starting Monday, for complicity in the murder of Albert Rosso in October 2005. He is denying the charges.
Anthony Bugeja, 49, is awaiting a separate trial by jury over the murder but it is not known when the case will start to be heard. Both suspects are out on bail.
The Attorney General filed a request for the trial to be postponed so that the cases against Mr Di Bartolo and Mr Bugeja would be heard in one trial in view of common witnesses and common evidence.
Mr Justice Michael Mallia upheld the postponement request, saying this was more practical, but Mr Di Bartolo’s defence lawyer, Roberto Montalto, is expected to file a counter-request to have the cases separated again.
Dr Montalto is expected to complain that while the Attorney General had been insisting on separate proceedings since the pair was charged in court, it was not right that now, on the eve of the trial, a request was filed to have them heard together.
Mr Di Bartolo was due to face three charges over the course of his trial: complicity in Mr Rosso’s murder, hiding the corpse – which has never been found – and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
According to the prosecution, Mr Bugeja called Mr Rosso on October 10, 2005, and asked him to go to his house to discuss some issues related to their fishing business, particularly the fishing vessel Desiree that they both owned.
Mr Di Bartolo, who was their employee and worked on the same vessel, was also there.
The discussion ended badly and, according to the prosecution, Mr Bugeja and Mr Di Bartolo agreed to kill Mr Rosso. Mr Bugeja allegedly shot Mr Rosso and the two then dumped his body out at sea, outside the Freeport, the prosecution says.
Lawyer Philip Galea Farrugia, from the Attorney General’s office, is prosecuting.