Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/821961
2 MAT THEW AGIUS A request for bail for a man in- volved in the stabbing of 21-year- old Brandon Pace last month has been upheld by the Criminal Court. 53-year-old Joseph Grech, fa- ther of Kurt Grech 'in-Nemes', had been arraigned together with his son last month on charges which include wilful homicide and carrying a knife in public without a police permit, after Pace was stabbed to death outside his apartment in Ham- run. Joseph Grech is also charged with threatening the victim's sister with a knife. Law yer Roberto Montalto yes- terday explained to Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi that he had first asked for bail during the first sitting of the compilation of evi- dence, on 16 April. This sitting had been characterised by pre- siding magistrate Aaron Bugeja being constantly interrupted by phone calls about Pilatus bank, the law yer said. "He was obvi- ously not being allowed to work in peace." The magistrate had held that Joseph Grech 's previ- ous convictions had rendered him ineligible for bail. The law yer told the judge that in the interim, the bail applica- tion, originally for both Kurt and Joseph Grech, had been withdrawn with respect to Kurt Grech, leaving only the father's bail to be considered. Joseph Grech 's criminal con- duct was marred only by parking, traffic offences and a conviction for slaughtering rabbits illegally. It was "effectively a clean con- duct therefore, and an erroneous decision by the court." On 26 April, the deposition of the 24 witnesses whom the pros- ecution was likely to summon in the trial was exhibited in court, Montalto said, interpreting this as meaning that the witness evidence was already preserved. The Attorney General had con- ceded this point in writing, the law yer said and had said he would submit to the court's de- cision. Of the incident which led to the death of Brandon Pace, the law- yer said: "Kurt Grech had been in an argument over a failed re- lationship. He had cooperated with the police, telling them that they had CCTV footage of him leaving home with two knives. Joseph Grech was nowhere to be seen in the footage." "Joseph Grech went there be- cause he was Kurt Grech 's fa- ther. It is not the opportune stage to examine whether he was involved in the struggle. It emerged that the deceased died as a result of a stab wound from the front through his heart. It was consistently reported by witnesses that Joseph Grech was behind the victim. He was a sec- ondary player in the story", the law yer submitted. The father's continued incar- ceration was negatively affecting his emotional state, the law yer said. "I see him deteriorating by the second." The Grechs had cooperated with the police, the law yer sub- mitted. Kurt Grech 's brother had admitted to having in a moment of panic washed the van which was splattered with his brother's blood. "If anything that evidence would have benefited the de- fence," Montalto submitted. Apart from the prematurity of the request, there was no objec- tion by the Attorney General, the law yer said. "I take this as a lack of objection from the Attorney General as long as there are sufficient conditions." Dr Maria Francesca Fenech from the Attorney General 's of- fice said there was no such waiv- er. "It is true that the testimony has been collected, but witnesses will still be asked to testif y be- fore the compiling magistrate. There is always a risk of them being inf luenced until they take the witness stand," she said. Some key witnesses were yet to testif y, including the mother of the victim and his girlfriend, the prosecutor added. The victim's girlfriend is in a residential drug programme and effectively kept apart from the accused. The other one is the mother of the victim, who is go- ing to inf luence her? Montalto shot back. In a decree issued from cham- bers, the court is understood to have granted Joseph Grech bail against a deposit of €20,000 and an €80,000 personal guarantee. Grech is to sign a bail book once weekly and observe a curfew. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY 2017 News Labour donation report reveals backing of high-rise developers MAT THEW VELLA LABOUR'S first ever donation report to the Electoral Commis- sion under party financing rules shows that its highest individual donors in 2016 include the con- struction company GAP Hold- ings, Attard Bros, Hal Mann, as well as the operator of the Pit Stop fuel station in Attard. At just over €630,000, Labour's donations in the main consisted of €370,000 gathered during po- litical manifestations and fund- raisers in donations of under €50. In total it collected €93,000 in donations of over €7,000, which requires identification of the individual donor under party fi- nancing rules. These donors comprised At- tard Bros and Eurocraft (€10,000 each), €20,000 from Sea View & Sons, which operate the Pit Stop fuel station, €10,000 from Camland – of developer Charles Camilleri, who is behind a high- rise proposal for the former Jerma hotel – GAP Holdings, Hal Mann, and BV Formosa, and €13,000 from the Marsaxlokk Labour Party club. GAP Holdings is planning a 40-storey tower hotel on the for- mer Holiday Inn hotel it acquired through the Fort Cambridge de- velopment brief. Another €154,000 were collect- ed in donations exceeding €500, but not more than €7,000 – a to- tal of 77 donors; while €21,000 was collected from 135 donors in donations not exceeding €500. On the other hand, the Na- tionalist Party collected a to- tal of €1.17 million – of which €927,000 were in donations of less than €50. A single donation of €18,000 came from National- ist MP Anthony Abela, who will not be running in the 2017 elec- tions. The total number of donors was not declared by the PN. The party also operates a con- troversial loan scheme that while allowing anonymity to its do- nors, who are effectively party creditors, still falls out of party financing rules. The PN has said it has collected €3 million in loans. The Partit Demokratiku re- ceived a total of €7,206 in dona- tions in 2016, while Alternattiva Demokratika received a total of €1,257 and far-right Moviment Patriotti Maltin received a total of €2,521 in donations. While the returns are for 2016, Labour this week collected over €650,000 in a day's fund-raiser. The Labour Party has also demanded that the Electoral Commission investigates pay- ments from the db Group to the PN's commercial arm Media. Link, which money was used to finance top party officials' sala- ries. The Green Party, Alternat- tiva Demokatika, has also filed a complaint on Labour's use of the Prime Minister's summer resi- dence in Girgenti, for parliamen- tary group meetings. Cash for concrete: Labour was the only party to have declared donations of over €7,000 from the buildling industry. Above: Charles Muscat, of GAP, and Michael Attard (right) of Attard Bros Hamrun stabbing suspect's father 'deteriorating by the second'