A man who allegedly supplied a young woman with the heroin that killed her claimed yesterday he was the victim of a “mafia” frame-up.

Lawrence Attard, known as L-Għawdxi, denied supplying 20-year-old Therese Agius with the drug and instead pointed a finger at his former partner’s son, claiming he had been caught in a web of “lies”.

He was testifying before Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano in the trial by jury of Joseph Azzopardi, 40, of Tarxien who is pleading not guilty to the murder of Ms Agius and trafficking in heroin on October 1, 1999.

The prosecution claims Mr Azzopardi injected Ms Agius with the drug, at her request, in the Gżira apartment she rented to prostitute herself. After the girl took an overdose the accused allegedly tied her up and threw her body into the sea.

Mr Justice Quintano drew Mr Attard’s attention to the fact that he could refuse to testify because he could incriminate himself in other cases in which he was charged with heroin trafficking.

But Mr Attard insisted on testifying, even though he had originally decided against it, because he was “very hurt” about what was being written in the newspapers.

“I’m accused of drug trafficking because Pawlu (Micallef) said he and Therese bought drugs from me,” he said.

In fact, his ex-girlfriend Philippa Chircop and Mr Micallef, known as Il-Bodybuilder, had both told the police that the victim had bought three sachets of heroin from Mr Attard on the night she died.

Mr Micallef had even said he bought a sachet himself from Mr Attard for €20 (Lm10).

However, Mr Attard denied ever selling drugs. “These are all lies – this is a mafia game between the police, Philippa, her son Simon and Pawlu,” he said.

The victim had a drug problem and would buy heroin from Ms Chircop and her son, who lived with him, Mr Attard said.

“I used to see a lot of people taking drugs in the flat – Therese (the victim) used to buy it from Simon. I heard that she didn’t know how to inject herself but would ask someone else to do it and I saw Simon do it at least three times.”

At that point the prosecution called in his former partner Ms Chircop – who had testified before him – because their versions did not tally. Standing right next to him, Ms Chircop insisted that her son never sold drugs and Ms Agius was never at their flat.

“This is his revenge on me... look what he did to my eye – even now he doesn’t leave me alone,” she said angrily. However, she refused to answer questions about whether she had ever sold drugs to the victim. After she left the hall, her former boyfriend, still on the witness stand, insisted that she was still lying. Meanwhile another witness, Vince Attard, known as Iċ-Ċappu, did not appear in court after suffering a drug overdose on Wednesday evening.

Police Superintendent Carmelo Magri explained that Mr Attard was taken to hospital after being involved in a traffic accident where it was found that he had taken an overdose.

During Wednesday’s sitting, Police Commissioner John Rizzo had testified that Mr Attard was with the accused on October 12, 1999 when Ms Agius’s decomposed body was found at sea by a man on a boat.

When Mr Azzopardi heard the news, he insisted on going to Haywharf, where the body was being brought in. However, they could not get much information and left, Mr Rizzo said. On the way back, Mr Attard realised that Mr Azzopardi was worried and bombarded him with questions. Mr Azzopardi replied “she died from an overdose” and told him not to ask any more questions, according to the Commissioner’s testimony.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General’s Office, is prosecuting. Lawyer Malcolm Mifsud is defence counsel.