A younf man who saw his father being run over and killed had reacted by punching the driver and forcing him to crash into a low-lying wall, prosecutors in the murder trial of Gerald Galea said today.
67-year-old Mr Galea stands charged with the murder of 54-year-old John Spiteri and the attempted murder of his son, Matthew, one afternoon in June 2013.
Mr Galea had allegedly angrily told the father and son to stop pruning a tamarisk tree at a car park in Qbajjar and insisted he would not tolerate the two setting up a kiosk there.
Lawyer Giannella Busuttil, who together with lawyer Kevin Valletta is handling the prosecution, pointed out that Matthew Spiteri's testimony had been corroborated by other witnesses and also by court expert reports.
They told the court that after Mr Galea had approached the father and son, Mr Spiteri had taken a photo of the accused's number plate. As he was bending down, he heard an argument in the background and upon turning he saw his father punch Mr Galea, as blood trickled from his father's cracked lip.
Forensic tests based on blood samples taken from the driver's door of Mr Galea's Daihatsu Terios had corroborated this, Dr Busuttil said.
Subsequently, Mr Galea had intentionally manoeuvred his vehicle to run over his target, the prosecution continued, as it said the defence seemed to be blaming the senior Mr Spiteri for having tripped while being chased by Mr Galea's car.
The lapse of time between the running over of the victim and the crashing of the Terios into the boundary wall, was also apparently corroborated by the testimony of an independent witness, Joseph Asciak, who witnessed the incident from his apartment overlooking the promenade.
Mr Asciak testified that he had heard the car crash as he rushed down to help. This, Dr Busuttil said, proved that Mr Galea had not crashed his Terios immediately after running over his victim but had instead targeted the man’s son, Matthew, who had recounted how he escaped being run over by clinging onto the door pillar of the moving car.
Moreover, the blows which had fractured Mr Galea's orbital bone had been dealt by the son and not by the father, as alleged by the defence, the prosecution told the court. The court-appointed forensic expert had not specifically determined this fact, leaving it up to the jury to decide whether the accused had been in excruciating pain and half-blinded at the time when he ran over the victim.
The trial now enters its final stages as the counter-reply by the defence is expected.
Lawyers Giannella Busuttil and Kevin Valletta from the AG’s office are prosecuting. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Arthur Azzopardi are defence counsel.
Lawyer Joseph Giglio is appearing parte civile.