Police Commissioner John Rizzo said today that he had warned informant PC99 Mario Portelli that former prisoner Romeo Bone might seek revenge against him – two days before PC Portelli reported seeing Mr Bone near his property.
The Commissioner was giving evidence this morning in the compilation of evidence against Mr Bone, who is accused of stalking PC99.
PB99 is the whistle-blower on the alleged crime gang led by former Police Inspector David Gatt.
The Commissioner said that following third party-information he had called PC99 to his office and warned him that Romeo Bone might seek revenge against him.
He did not specify why.
Two days later, PC99 reported that he had seen Mr Bone near his family's farm.
The Commissioner said the police had also been informed about a stolen Toyota Liteace involved in the case and it was found shortly before the stalking was reported.
He then instructed the police to arrest Mr Bone and he was picked up in Luqa.
Earlier in the case, the court was told by Inspector Joseph Mercieca that a person told the police on January 12 that Mr Bone was planning to eliminate PC99 and that the plan was imminent. He informed his superiors who told him to obtain an arrest warrant to investigate the case.
The warrant was issued on the following day and Mr Bone was to be held when he went to sign at the Valletta police station.
But he heard on the police radio at 6 p.m. that Mr Bone and another person were in the vicinity of Qrendi, where PC Portelli lived. The police had followed his car and he was stopped at Luqa and taken to police headquarters.
Inspector Mercieca said he had asked Mr Bone on the number of a vehicle written on a piece of paper and found in his car: an Isuzu JBB 785 Isuzu. When the police checked it out, they found it belonged to Joseph Baldacchino, who had been shot at in December.
During cross examination, Inspector Mercieca said that nothing illegal was found in Mr Bone’s car.
Giving evidence PC Portelli said he knew Mr Bone through David Gatt.
He said the Commissioner of Police called him last January 10, telling him he had information that Mr Bone was planning to kill him.
PC99 said that on January 13, while smoking in the porch of his house, he saw a vehicle driving slowly and coming up to his house where it almost stopped driving.
There were Mr Bone and someone else he did not know at the time inside the car and both were looking in his direction. He knelt down so that they would not see him.