A Qawra bar owner facing murder charges following a late-night row with a customer that ended badly is be handed back the keys to the premises.
David Busuttil, 59 and the owner of Munchies Pub in Buġibba’s Triq it-Turisti was granted that request at the end of a court hearing on Tuesday.
Busuttil stands accused of the murder of 60-year-old Roger Dudley Ward, who died after getting into an altercation with Busuttil at the pub on June 17.
The pub has remained shut ever since.
A court has heard that Busuttil allegedly kicked Dudley-Ward after the latter had been riling him up, talking to him about his ex-partner and coughing in his drink. The kick sent Dudley-Ward backwards, down some steps, where he cracked his head on the pavement and died.
The incident was allegedly witnessed by the victim’s friend who had been drinking with him at the bar and was also captured on CCTV footage later presented in evidence.
When the case continued on Tuesday, a technician who had recently installed security cameras and an alarm system at Busuttil’s pub testified that Busuttil would often call or message him for assistance with the newly-installed equipment.
“He [Busuttil] was still green” as far as such technical stuff was concerned, said Mark Genovese.
So, for instance, he would receive calls from Busuttil needing help to switch off the alarm or to set it for the night.
Or else he would call when some patron lit up a cigarette close to the bar entrance, triggering the smoke alarm, prompting Busuttil to dial the technician for help to switch it off.
“He practically called me every week, about one thing or another,” said the witness.
And those calls arrived mainly in the evening, said Genovese in reply to further questions by the defence.
The last time Busuttil contacted him was when he sent a text message asking his technician to call him when he [Genovese] woke up.
Shown two documents by the prosecution, the witness identified a phone chat between himself and the accused, including that last message.
The date of that message seemed to read “June 11,” but the witness told the court that he was not too sure of the date on the copy shown to him. What did he do about that message, the prosecution asked.
“When I woke up I called but no one answered….Then five minutes later they called me from the [police] depot,” said Genovese.
Police summoned him to their headquarters, explaining that they did so because he had dialled Busuttil’s number.
Following that testimony the court, presided over by magistrate Doreen Clarke, asked the prosecution whether they objected to the accused’s request to retrieve possession of his pub.
After being told that there was no such objection, the court upheld the request put forward by Busuttil’s lawyers earlier this month and authorized the expert architect appointed by the inquiring magistrate, to hand over the keys to the premises, against due receipt.
Inspector Ryan Vella prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyer Abigail Caruana Vella. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.