Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/611961
4 MIRIAM DALLI THE Ragusa police have arrested two individuals, thought to be Libyan nationals, found to be in possession of fake identification documents. The arrests came after Ragusa tightened the surveillance of suspicious persons and border crossings, primarily at the port of Pozzallo and at Comiso airport. The mobile police squad noted the two Libyans, driving around Pozzallo in "a suspicious" yellow Chevrolet. The Police had been observing the two for quite a while, "notic- ing them making phone calls" and moving from one place to another. The arrests were made after the pair left the hotel they were staying at, heading towards Pozzallo with catamaran tickets for Malta. The Police also noticed the two repeatedly going back and forth between the hotel and the car. Stopped by the police, the two individuals produced Libyan passports and residence permits issued by the Maltese authori- ties, Italian media report. But a deeper inspection of the car revealed that the car's regis- tration documents were false and other Libyan plates were found hidden in the trunk of the car. Suspecting that the identifica- tion documents could also be false, the Ragusa police request- ed a verification of the docu- ments, which were confirmed to be fake. Both men have been arraigned. It transpired that one of the two had already been stopped in Ca- tania by border control police for travelling with false documents, two years ago. News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2015 4 News MATTHEW AQUILINA On the 20 th anniversary of your tragic and mysterious disappearance together with the other passengers of the Piper Lance 9H-ABU We miss you so much dearest Matthew, love Mama, Papa, Daniel & Adrienne, Gillian & Alfio, Emma, Sophie, Luisa, Anna, Nino, Mattia, Luca, Nanna, Nannu, family and friends. Please remember Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. MATTHEW AQUILINA On the 20th anniversary of your tragic and mysterious disappearance together with the other passengers of the Piper Lance 9H-ABU We miss you so much dearest Matthew, love Mama, Papa, Daniel & Adrienne, Gillian & Alfio, Emma, Sophie, Luisa, Anna, Nino, Mattia, Luca, Nanna, Nannu, family and friends. Please remember Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. Bona murder: Accused's girlfriend details threatening calls before murder MATTHEW AGIUS THE girlfriend of the man on trial for the 2010 murder of Antoine Borg il-Bona has told a jury that she had only found out that Borg had died after receiving a phone call from her brother. Amanda Grech, accused Allan Galea's long-term girlfriend and mother of his seven-year-old daugh- ter, testified yesterday. Galea, a hawker, is accused of the wilful homicide of Antoine Borg at Marsaxlokk. Borg died in February 2010 after being stabbed three times in the Marsaxlokk square following an ar- gument with the accused. Gunshots had been heard before the stabbing. Grech yesterday testified how she had followed her normal Sunday routine on the day of the murder. "We went to set up the market stall early on Sunday... at around 9.30," said the woman. "That day, Borg's brother, Frans, passed us on the way to the square." Both men nodded in greeting, she said. The witness explained that, after a time, Galea had left to set up a football match at the Marsaxlokk football club and she had walked home to feed her daughter. Galea returned about an hour afterwards, she said. They had plans to go out for a meal in the evening, and started receiving several telephone calls. She had been in the kitchen with their child when Galea's phone started to ring. She had picked it up as he was outside in the yard at the time, she testified. The caller identi- fied himself as "Twanny" and asked to speak to Allan. "I didn't know who he was at the time," said the witness, but he was "speaking in a loud voice." She handed the phone to Allan and went upstairs to bathe their child. From the upstairs bathroom, she said, she later heard Allan's mobile ring again. When she saw that Galea had not picked up the phone, she had gone downstairs to answer it. "Tell that man he has to come here," said the caller, in what the woman described as an aggressive tone. "Tell him to come down here." Shortly afterwards the phone rang again, recalled the witness. "He told me to 'tell that pufta to come down here'," the woman repeated to the court, awkwardly. Grech said that she was "terrified" and could not understand why the caller was so angry. In the fourth call, the man said "tell him to come down here so we can cut him up ["inqattgħuh"]." She had dialled 112 in a state of panic, ask- ing the police to go to the PN party club. "Then I started to worry that he would come to our house, so I dressed the girl and ran with her to my brother's house." Such was her state of anxiety, that she had left the house still in her pyjamas, she said. She said she was "worried that he would turn up behind our door and make a scene." A further two calls had been re- ceived, said the woman, but she could not remember exactly when. "My brother told me that there had been a shooting. My heart just sank." Asked whether she had gone to see what happened, herself, she said that she had not gone to the square because she had been too scared. "People had called up my brother and told him that there was a shoot- ing and that Twanny had died," said the woman, failing to hold back her tears. Prosecutor Kristina Debattista asked the witness about her previous sworn statements. Reading from the statements, the prosecutor said that the witness had not mentioned the threat to "cut him up," to the police. The first time this phrase was mentioned was three months later, said Debattista. However, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco pointed out that the jury had already heard a police officer, who had dealt with the woman's initial report, testify to having been told that phrase. Yesterday afternoon, Pranzianne Borg, daughter of the victim's broth- er Frans, who has known the ac- cused since childhood, recalled that three weeks before the murder she had gone to the PN club with her one year-old son. She had bumped Borg on her way in and he had told her not to go inside because Galea was there and was being a drunken nuisance. "His girlfriend had told him to stop because he was annoy- ing everyone." Pranzianne Borg said she had left the club with a friend. It was not the first time that the accused's drunken behaviour had caused arguments with his partner. The accused "had a tendency to joke around after having a drink or two," Grech testified. She had gone home after arguing with the accused because he had been "drunk and was flirting with other women." Grech had packed some clothes and called his mother to pick them up. Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi, presid- ing, asked the witness whether there had been any other incidents when the accused had been sent to his mother or had been kicked out of the house. "In the past few years it has been a bit up and down. We have argu- ments but then I calm down. I want my relationship to be good, for the sake of my daughter. I want to be a good example to her," the witness said. In cross-examination, de Marco asked about Allan's character under the influence of alcohol. "When he drinks, his character starts to open up," began Grech. "Does he tease women?" asked de Marco. The wit- ness replied in the affirmative. "Do you get jealous?" asked the lawyer. Grech said she did. "Is that why you sent him to his mother?" "Yes," came the reply. The trial resumes tomorrow. Lara Lanfranco and Kristina De- battista are prosecuting, while de Marco, Joe Giglio and Steven Tonna Lowell are defence counsel. Franco Debono and Matthew Brincat are appearing parte civile for the family of the deceased. Ragusa police arrest two Libyans trying to reach Malta using fake passports The 2010 murder scene