I tried to befriend GRTU director, not injure him

Sandro Chetcuti, charged with seriously injuring the director general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, yesterday denied punching him and said he was provoked.

In one SMS, Mr Farrugia said: ‘The Nationalist Party is led by giants while the Labour Party is led by midgets’

Mr Chetcuti, who headed the GRTU’s developers section, said he tried everything to befriend Vince Farrugia but it all ended in tears.

When Mr Farrugia ran for the European Parliament elections, he gave him a €4,000 donation, obtained catering for his campaign events and also printed stationery. Still, Mr Farrugia was not happy, Mr Chetcuti testified.

The 41-year-old from Marsascala said that on March 11, 2010, he was pushed to breaking point by Mr Farrugia, who was physically aggressive towards him.

At one point, defence lawyer Emanuel Mallia read out text messages sent by Mr Farrugia to Mr Chetcuti. These, Mr Chetcuti said, showed how the GRTU had become one with the Nationalist Party.

In one SMS, sent on November 6, 2009, Mr Farrugia said: “The Nationalist Party is led by giants while the Labour Party is led by midgets.”

Mr Chetcuti said that the day before the incident he had mistakenly sent Mr Farrugia an SMS meant for Labour leader Joseph Muscat. After realising what had happened, he tried to come up with an excuse.

According to previous testimony by Mr Farrugia, the SMS detailed confidential matters resulting from GRTU meetings.

Mr Chetcuti said he wanted to send the message to let Dr Muscat know how hard it was for him to form part of the GRTU but later realised this was the wrong thing to do.

Mr Chetcuti said that after he sent the SMS he went straight to his service provider to retrieve an itemised bill to prove that Mr Farrugia was the only person who received the message and show it to him in an attempt to mitigate the damage.

He called Mr Farrugia straightaway and asked to speak to him face to face but Mr Farrugia refused and said that if he had not associated with “those Labour demons” he (Mr Farrugia) had the power to arrange for Mr Chetcuti to be given a good government appointment, the accused said.

After repeated attempts, Mr Farrugia told him to meet him the next day at the GRTU offices in Valletta, Mr Chetcuti said.

Arriving with the call log in hand, he walked into the office but Mr Farrugia began shouting at him and told him to return later.

At that point, Mr Chetcuti said he asked GRTU official Joe Attard to accompany him for a coffee in a shop nearby until Mr Farrugia was available. Mr Attard told him that Mr Farrugia and others within the GRTU were afraid of him and wanted to get rid of him.

When he returned to the GRTU offices, Mr Chetcuti said that Mr Farrugia was in the boardroom with president Paul Abela and Sylvia Gauci, a former member of the GRTU.

Mr Abela and Ms Gauci left the room and he took a seat at the head of the table with Mr Farrugia on the side.

Mr Chetcuti said he gave the itemised bill to Mr Farrugia, who flew into a rage and began calling him a fraudster. Mr Farrugia hit him with the bill, pulled him from the chair and told him to get out of the office, Mr Chetcuti said, adding that he tried to calm the situation down.

However, Mr Farrugia continued to be aggressive and, at one point, Mr Chetcuti said he reacted and raised his arm, accidentally hitting Mr Farrugia’s glasses and hurting one of his fingers.

Mr Farrugia fell to the floor and repeatedly shouted, “look what he did to me,” in an exaggerated way, Mr Chetcuti said.

As he left, Mr Chetcuti said he saw the office girls wiping Mr Farrugia’s face and, acknowledging that it was wrong to do so, he told Mr Farrugia: “I will you kill you, you animal.”

He went home on the advice of a GRTU colleague and people wanting to know what had happened immediately started calling him.

He said he received a phone call from Police Inspector James Grech who told him to go to the police station for questioning. While at the station, an officer he did not know told him that the inspector was acting on orders from above.

Another officer told him to be careful because the issue had become a political one, Mr Chetcuti said.

The case continues.