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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 APRIL 2019 3 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS INVESTIGATORS looking in- to reports of the disappearance of Maria Lourdes and Angele Bonnici had smelled a rat when they examined the Ghaxaq house the two women shared with Joseph Bonnici and found their phones and personal ef- fects and documents still in- side. Had the women left the house they must have left in a hurry, the court heard officers say, as the mother's phone was found on a chair still switched on, and a mug of coffee, half finished, was in the kitchen. A plugged- in laptop was recovered from inside the daughter's room where clothes were found strewn across the bed together with a handbag containing a purse with Angele's personal documents still inside. This didn't add up, according to a number of police officers who testified about the inves- tigation into the double homi- cide, when the compilation of evidence against Joseph Bon- nici resumed this afternoon. Police officers from the Zur- rieq and Zejtun police sta- tions testified about the inves- tigations which had started following a missing persons report filed on 27 March. The manhunt had eventu- ally turned into a homicide inquiry after Joseph Bonnici, who had filed the report, con- fessed to having murdered the two women. Bonnici had initially claimed to have last seen his mother at around 7am on 27 March when she had allegedly waved to him from her balcony. But after an absence of just seven hours, at around 2.30pm, the man had gone to file a miss- ing persons report at the local police station. This, he had said, had been prompted by his father who was worried because his routine phone calls home from prison were not being answered. One police sergeant who had visited the missing per- sons' home, told magistrate Joe Mifsud how he had accom- panied Bonnici as he searched the house, saying that he had sensed something amiss that he could not quite articulate at the time. The home was clearly inhab- ited by the missing women up till very recently, he said, as evi- dence by the women's belong- ings still being in the house. Inquiries made to the Pass- port Office returned with the reply that neither of the two missing persons had ever regis- tered for a passport. The CCTV monitor beside the mother's bed had been switched off and its four cam- eras were unplugged, the Court was told. Officers observed that a stone slab had been removed by Bonnici to gain access to his mother's adjacent residence. He explained that he had done so because "he was concerned about his relatives." The mother had taken to bar- ring her door with a wooden plank for extra security, he said. Asked why, he replied that it was "because they were scared," but had answered "I don't know" when asked what they were afraid of. That reply, reiterated several times by the man through- out the house inspection, had made an impression on the of- ficer, causing him to suspect that something was wrong. Bonnici had later confessed to the murders. "This is true but the rape thing is completely false," he had told interroga- tors. "I was still going to end up there," he had said, meaning prison. After the spontaneous confes- sion, the Inspector had recalled a heavy silence in the police car, broken only by Bonnici's direc- tions to the Ghaxaq field where he had buried the women. He had refused to accompany the officers to the burial site. "I'll show you where but I'm not coming with you because it's not a pretty sight," he had said. Bonnici then indicated a spot next to a rubble wall where the bodies were found. Another officer recalled how after the accused's arraign- ment, whilst custody was trans- ferred to prison officials, the man had said, "Now I need to start everything from the be- ginning. There's nothing that can be done seeing as the mind worked like that," before break- ing down in tears. The manager of a florist where the accused used to work, de- scribed his former employee as an exemplary, hard working man who had never caused any trouble and who had always ex- celled at the tasks he was given. Several people had expressed shocked disbelief about the charges to the accused's former boss over the past few days, he said. The florist said that he had heard about the women's dis- appearance on the news but had thought that everything had turned out fine as Joseph had turned up for work as nor- mal. He recalled how on the Wednesday morning after the murder, Bonnici had gone to work looking tired and sick, and then asked for the day off. He had later called in asking for the following day off too, saying that his sister needed something. The case will continue next week. Inspectors Keith Arnaud, John Spiteri and Roderick At- tard prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri are defence counsel. 'I'll show you where but I'm not coming with you because it's not a pretty sight' Ghaxaq double murder Joseph Bonnici (centre) stands accused of murdering his mother Maria Lourdes Bonnici (left) and sister Angele Bonnici CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "A lot of drivers are cautious and ob- serve the Highway Code but there are others who need education to start obeying the rules and this is where we have to up awareness," Gatt said. However, for those who will continue to disregard the rules, the only solution would be stricter enforcement on the road, he added. Driver error is a major contributor to accidents and it is not just about driv- ing under the influence of alcohol, he noted. "You would have thought that after Sunday's horrific accident people would be shocked but on my way to hospital, today, I noticed at least three people texting while driving and this is scary because it could injure innocent peo- ple," Gatt said. He also called for better safety meas- ures to be introduced on sites where roadworks were underway. "I am not an expert in road safety but people have to know that all safety pre- cautions, including proper signage are being adopted wherever roadworks are happening," Gatt cautioned. He also called for the technical find- ings of magisterial inquiries to be stud- ied and made publicly available so that lessons can be learnt. On Sunday, two women were killed on the spot after the Maruti 800 they were in smashed head-on into an Audi A1. The victims are Żabbar women Grazi- ella Mallia, 53, and her daughter Fallon, 31. Graziella was driving while her daugh- ter is understood to have been sitting on the back seat right behind her. The women died on the spot. Sources said the Maruti had four oth- er passengers inside, including Fallon's 12-year-old son. The car is supposed to take only four people, including the driver. An eyewitness is understood to have told investigators that the Maruti drove wrong way into the oncoming Audi. The Audi was driven by a 31-year-old from Mosta, who was accompanied by a one-year-old baby and two children aged 11 and 10. In the accident, seven people were in- jured and a 77-year-old woman is still in intensive care. A day earlier, a 23-year-old woman was run over by a truck after the motor- cycle she was riding pillion skidded. She died on the spot. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Doctor calls for inquiry conclusions on road accidents to be made public

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