A man, jailed for life over his involvement in the murder of messenger Alphonse Ferriggi during an armed holdup outside a Bank of Valletta branch in San Ġwann 19 years ago, shed light upon preparations leading up to that fateful incident.

Richard Grech, 51, convicted for life following a trial by jury back in 2011, took the witness stand in ongoing proceedings against James Vella and Chris Scerri who, together with Joseph Zammit, also jailed over his involvement in the crime, had allegedly made up the gang behind the violent robbery which had yielded no cash but “only papers”.

Although testifying at length about the plans leading to the heist, Mr Grech claimed to have parted company with Mr Vella and Mr Scerri shortly before the holdup, his desire for a drink and a shot of heroin proving too much to resist.

The man, who 19 years ago had been hooked on alcohol and drugs, recalled how he had first got to know the two co-accused through their acquaintance with a former girlfriend of his from Qormi.

Back in 2000, Mr Grech shared his San Ġwann apartment, a penthouse opposite the BOV branch, with the woman during his trips to Malta from Libya where he had been working at the time.

Both Mr Vella and Mr Scerri used to visit the couple at their San Ġwann home, spotting the messenger who drove up every morning in a white station wagon at around 5am to deposit “money or at least bags” at the bank’s deposit box.

These daily visits, observed from the veranda across the road, had led to the hatching of a plan whereby those bags, believed to contain cash, were to be seized by the gang.

Mr Grech, describing himself as being “drunk from morning till night”, said he just used to go along with whatever the others decided.

The witness recalled how one Sunday, shortly before the robbery, he had accompanied Mr Vella to Sliema, parking his car along the seafront while the other man slipped into a parked Volkswagen Golf, left momentarily unattended by its driver who had stopped to grab a bite from a nearby kiosk, and drove off.

The vehicle stolen on that day was to be used during the holdup, the witness explained, adding details as to how the car had been hidden somewhere at San Ġwann valley until the execution of the plans.

On the eve of September 18, 2000, Mr Vella and Mr Scerri had called for Mr Grech before driving their red Mazda Bubble to Floriana where the fourth member of the gang, Mr Zammit, was waiting.

With hours to go to 5am, the foursome had whiled away the time, later returning to Mr Grech’s apartment.

As the hour approached, Mr Zammit had driven the getaway Mazda to the pre-determined spot, the San Ġwann landmark, also known as the Rajt ma rajtx , smajt ma smajtx cross, where he was to wait while the other three carried out the holdup.

Meanwhile, the latter sat inside the Golf, metres away from the bank, awaiting their victim who would turn up to deposit the bags, Mr Grech recalled, saying that they “wouldn’t know what was in them”.

However, as the moments dragged by, Mr Grech had been taken ill, his drug dependency getting the better of him and forcing him to retire back to his apartment where, after a shot of heroin, he had gone to sleep.

Leaving home later that morning, the witness recalled having noticed nothing untoward outside the bank and had only overheard third parties talking about the murder.

He had met Mr Vella and Mr Scerri while getting his supply of drugs from Qormi, later that same day.

“Did you do it?” the witness had allegedly asked. “Yes, but we found nothing, just papers,” was the alleged reply.

“That was the end of the story,” Mr Grech declared, confirming under cross-examination that he could not offer eye-witness evidence as to what the two co-accused had actually done after he left them.

“I saw nothing, I went upstairs, I went inside.”

Inspector Keith Arnaud prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel.