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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 APRIL 2014 News 5 Imniehru murder: Witness covered bodies with manure CHRIS MANGION THE witness who owned the Birze- bbugia field where Mario Camill- eri 'l-Imniehru' and his son Mario Camilleri Jnr were buried, claimed that accused Jason Galea planned to kill a third person, but refrained from the final murder when the tar- get 'shot at him'. Alfredo Attard was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Jason and George Galea, accused of the murder of the Camilleris, after he was granted a deferred pros- ecution that allowed him to testify without caution that what he says could be used against him. He recounted that Galea had ap- proached him on his way to the farm, informing him of the im- pending murder. "He said, 'it has to be done today. It will be done today. I realised that he was talking about the plans made two weeks earlier to bury three corpses at my field, for which I would receive €5,000. Half an hour later, I realised that there was already a corpse in the hole dug in my field – it was Mario Camilleri senior and he had two gunshots in his neck," Attard said. He said that moments later, Emanuel Farrugia – known as 'id- Deffien' (the gravedigger) but also known by the nickname 'l-Iskrun' – arrived at the field with Mario Camilleri junior. Attard said he told him to leave, but shortly after Jason Galea him- self accompanied the youth to the field. "He kept him near the door of the room, and from behind a curtain George Galea shot at him twice, but missed. Then they started hitting him with everything they found – tiles and stones. I was a couple of metres away from them, under a carob tree, and heard Mario Jnr tell Jason to stop hitting him and leave him alone. When he was dead they put the body over that of his father, and I covered them with six inches of manure." Attard said that after the murder, Galea returned to the field, and asked him to wash his van. "I told him no, and told him to leave the field. He replied that he had gone to get the third person but failed to do so when she was about to shoot him – he did not tell me who it was," At- tard said. Attard said the firearms, cartridg- es and a watch belonging to Mario Camilleri Jnr had been given to him by Jason Galea, who instructed him to hide them. "I hid them in the stable where I keep sheep, and later gave them to the police." Matthew Zahra murder Inspector Chris Pullicino asked Attard to recall what had happened a year earlier with respect to the murder of Valletta taxi driver Mat- thew Zahra, for which Jason Galea and Ronald Urry face separate mur- der charges. "On 14 August 2012, Jason offered me €2,000 to get rid of the body of Matthew Zahra. We used to meet at the Birzebbugia Labour club. From the money he owed me, I only got €400. At around 6:30am he arrived at my field with Renald (Ronald Urry), who hid under a fig tree next to the gate. Later, Jason arrived with Matthew Zahra in a white Skoda, and Renald shot him inside the car, then drove to the hole and dumped the body." Before Attard covered Zahra's body, Galea and Urry rif led through his pockets where they found a gold choker, which Galea took. "As time passed, I asked Galea for the money but did not see an- other cent. He insisted that I should exhume the body and burn the remains, which I refused to do. However people started telling me that the accused was entering my field when I was not there. So I dug up Zahra's body and burnt the re- mains, but kept some bones – so in time the case could be revealed. I passed the bones to the police and threw the ashes over the field." Cross-examined by defence coun- sel Joe Giglio, Attard said he had known Jason Galea for over a year at the Birzebbugia Labour club. Attard, who has been granted witness protection under deferred prosecution, told the court he never spoke to a lawyer and had not been summoned to testify in the case be- fore last week. Giglio expressed surprise at the reason Attard had been granted deferred prosecution, when his evi- dence matched that given by Jason Galea himself. The other defence lawyer, Gianella de Marco also cross-examined At- tard – he told the court that George Galea was behind a curtain, so he did not see at who he was shooting. But he reiterated that Jason Galea was holding Mario Camilleri Jnr by the door in front of the curtain: "So the two shots I heard were aimed at the youth," Attard said. Camilleri burial Attard said he entered into a sec- ond agreement with Jason Galea, even though he had still not been paid for the first burial. He also confirmed that he used to live and sleep on the farm where he had hid- den the bodies. "One evening I returned to the farm after having a couple of beers at the Labour club and found my field swarming with police. They kept me off the field but when I told them I was the owner they escorted me inside. I knew I was in trouble because I saw them digging up the bodies of the two Camilleris." Attard was then arrested three times and each time detained for 48 hours. "At my last arrest, a lawyer turned up at my cell and told me to testify so Jason and George Galea would be imprisoned. I do not re- member who the lawyer was but I never asked for a lawyer." Inspector Pullicino objected to the defence's questions. "He is be- ing questioned about the arrest, not about his involvement in the case. The lawyer who turned up at the lock-up was the legal aid lawyer on duty," the inspector said. The court did not uphold the pros- ecution's objection and instructed Attard to continue answering Gi- anella de Marco's questions. "I did not know of any legal amendments, or any protection programme. But after the lawyer came to my cell and told me to tes- tify so the two are jailed, I decided that if they don't prosecute me I would testify," Attard said. Simon Grech murder – suspect offered patrons pills in return for torch CHRIS MANGION LIBYAN national Ismael Habesh, 42, who stands charged with the murder of Simon Grech, had offered "pills" to bar patrons in return for a torch or candlesticks. The compilation of evidence against Habesh and 46-year old Tunisian na- tional Faical Mohouachi continued yesterday, after witness Jason Galea was asked to describe the scene at the Track Bar in Msida, on the night of 25 April 2005. "I was there drinking with my sister Dorianne and another friend named Stephen Brincat. Habesh, who I know by sight from being near the Detox Centre, entered the bar to buy ciga- rettes. However he was about 5 cents short and my sister paid for him," the witness said. After purchasing cigarettes, the ac- cused, described as looking confused and disoriented, demanded a torch or candlesticks. "He insisted that he needed light but never told us why. He also offered us pills," Galea said, al- though he said he did not know what type of pills these were. The Libyan also asked the three pa- trons if he could meet them the fol- lowing day. "He said he would bring a certain 'Sione' with him to our place. I told him I was busy but my sister gave him her number. We knew 'Sione' as he was our neighbour," Galea told the court, referring to Simon Grech, the victim. After that, Habesh left the bar on foot although the witness could not be sure that he did not have a car in the area. In a previous sitting, Dorianne Galea had explained that she regularly slept rough in the street, and that she was unable to remember details of the past due to her long years of substance abuse. Warned by the court about concealing the truth, she recalled hav- ing last seen Simon Grech wearing women's clothes a couple of metres away from where his body was found, in a field at Albert Town, in Marsa. She also remembered seeing Ismael Habesh, at the time that she was in the company of her brother Jason Galea and Stephen Brincat at the Track Bar. However in her evidence, she said the bar was in Marsa, and not in Msida as her brother correctly pointed out. Download the MaltaToday App now Mario Camilleri 'l-Imniehru' (left) and his son Mario Camilleri Jnr, murdered in August 2013 Matthew Zahra was murdered in August 2012 Witness Alfredo Attard Ronald Urry, one of the suspects in the murder of Matthew Zahra Simon Grech

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