Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/398422
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 15 OctObEr 2014 News 2 Long legal saga saw witnesses dying CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Spiteri and Polidano have already been jailed for their part in the crime, having admitted to the charges – a fact that the prosecution pointed out yesterday in submissions on pun- ishment. Xuereb's lawyer, Raphael Fenech Adami, asked the court to consider the lapse of time in sentencing. Lawyers Lara Lanfranco and Kevin Valletta, for the prosecution, raised the fact that Xuereb, in the inter- vening years since the bank heist, had also been convicted of at- tempted burglary in March 2012. This, they said, demonstrated that Xuereb had not changed his ways. One of the convicted robbers, who had been jailed for 10 years for his part in the hold-up, had testi- fied that Xuereb was responsible for placing the weapons inside a plastic bag which was confirmed to be carrying Xuereb's fingerprints. Over the course of the eight day- long trial, the jury was meant to hear almost 100 witnesses describe how they remembered the events to have unfolded on that March day in 1996, however many witnesses had died since, or simply forgotten the details in the intervening years. The prosecution's case was not helped when, in the early stages, their star witness gave testimony that was clearly wrong. Joseph Poli- dano, one of the two gang members who had been jailed for his part in the hold-up, and evidently reluc- tant to testify, gave general answers with little detail, much to the frus- tration of the prosecution. His most common answer was: "I don't remember". Polidano said the gang had four members: Amadeo Brincat, George Xuereb, George Cutajar il-Manocc and Car- melo il-Bizibellu. Polidano was evi- dently struggling to remember the events 18 years on, requiring the prosecution to read out his sworn deposition from 1997, asking him to confirm every sentence. Asked by defence lawyer Rap- hael Fenech Adami how many rob- bers went into the bank, Polidano, confusingly said all five of them exited the van. "There were five of us in the bank, for sure" said Polidano. "What if I told you there were three of you in the bank?" asked Fenech Adami. "Yes, I said there were three in the bank." Polidano's deposition had, in fact, only mentioned three robbers in the bank. Turning to the jury, Fenech Ad- ami said that one does not forget the basic facts – the reason people forget these things can only be be- cause they would be lying. One police witness had certainly not forgotten the events of the day, however, enthusiastically tell- ing the jury how the robbers fired first. "The person who shot at me, at my face, he looked straight at me and shot at me in cold blood... Three people left the bank. The shot towards me was the first one fired. We had said 'pulizija freeze!' to give the impression that there were more police on the scene, as we were only two of us. "One of the robbers dropped his shotgun on the floor in the con- fusion. I thank the Lord that they shot at me with the revolver, not the shotgun," he added, with a dra- matic flourish. In final submissions, Fenech Adami told the jury that "by no stretch of the imagination is there enough evidence which proves, be- yond reasonable doubt, that my cli- ent was involved in this case". Indeed, aside from the bag, the only other forensic link was a mo- bile phone claimed to have been stolen by Xuereb's wife and given to Amadeo Brincat, with whom she was having an affair. "All we heard that was incrimi- nating was the mobile, the key to the house in Qormi where Car- melo Spiteri was found and the fingerprints on the plastic bag in the getaway car. But even for these, there is an explanation" Fenech Adami had said. Artistic Director: F R E D E R I C K T E STA Conductor: M A E ST RO PAU L A B E L A & M A E ST RO J O E B ROW N Performers: E L EA N O R S P I T E R I • J O S E P H ZA M M I T • RO GE R T I R A ZO NA • C H O RU S T I Z I A NA CA L L E JA • I L - P U S É • GE O RGI NA A B E L A • F R A N C E S CO N I CO D E M E NA D I A V E L L A R E NATO • RYA N A B E L A • M A RTA V E L L A • LU K E DA L L I P R E S E NT S A N E NT E RTA I N I N G EV E N I N G W I T H M U S I CA L EXC E R P T S I NT E R P R ET E D BY M A LTA'S L EA D I N G P E R F O R M E R S SATU R DAY 1 ST N OV E M B E R , 2 014 - M F CC, TA' QA L I - T I M E : 2 0 : 3 0 H R S TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM TVM.COM.MT