The son of a businessman who was allegedly defrauded of some €750,000 broke down in tears in court this morning as be pointed to the accused and said he had ruined his family.

Rodney Spiteri was testifying in the trial of Joseph Friggieri, a 45-year-old   unemployed man who is accused of having defrauded businessman Joseph Spiteri.

Friggieri had duped Joseph Spiteri and his son Rodney into spending money on tenders and projects which turned out to be false.

In his testimony, Rodney Spiteri said his father used to own a supermarket and the accused would call to buy newspapers. He started casual conversations with his father, claiming that he worked in Austin Gatt's ministry and bought the newspapers for the minister.

At one point Mr Friggieri suggested to his father that he could be a subcontractor in various projects, one of which was a school They agreed to give him money to assist them for that purpose. Later he came up with subcontracting for finishing works for buildings within Smartcity.

Mr Spiteri said he had personally given the accused up to €30,000 to cover bills which the accused had allegedly raked up in connection with the projects.

Mr Spiteri said he had received phone calls from various people purporting to be connected to the projects including Austin Gatt, his assistant Manuel Delia, the CEO of SmartCity and a lawyer who did not exist.

At one time the accused duped him and his father into booking a hotel for a year for 31 Italians who were meant to come to work in SmartCity. These people never turned up but the Spiteris eventually had to pay the hotel €40,000.

As he broke down in tears, Mr Spiteri pointed at the accused and said: "I work hard for my money, not like him, he has ruined my family."

He said his father had been forced to sell his assets in order to pay the debts incurred as a result of this fraud. He even had to sell his house and would have to move out within six months.

The case continues.