Cook threatened beatings to force employee to steal for him, court hears

A cook threatened to send his "Mqabba friends" to beat up an employee if the latter did not help him steal alcohol from the restaurant where they both worked, a court heard yesterday.

Melchior Bonnici explained that Mario Cutajar told him that if he did not help him steal alcohol from Melita Restaurant in Balzan, he would send his friends to get him.

"Mario also told me that he was a dangerous man and there was a period of time when he used to take my salary and threaten to send the Mqabba men for me if I did not pay up. He used to take Lm80 of my Lm90 weekly salary," Bonnici said.

He testified before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera in the compilation of evidence against Cutajar, 40, of Rabat, who is pleading not guilty to threatening to defame or file a complaint against Melchior Bonnici with the intent to extort money and handling stolen property on January 22 and the previous three years.

Bonnici explained that he had started working at the Melita Restaurant six years ago as a part-timer but the problems with Cutajar started two years ago when he became a full timer.

He had told Cutajar that he had bought a television on the black market and Cutajar used the knowledge to threaten Bonnici and force him to help him steal alcohol from the restaurant.

Bonnici explained that Cutajar threatened that he would send his Mqabba friends for him if he did not steal the alcohol and give him most of his salary.

Despite being cautioned that he had the right not to reply if he believed that he might incriminate himself, Bonnici added that he had stolen whisky from the restaurant about once a week because he was scared of Cutajar's threats.

He explained that he took the bottles of alcohol home with him when he stayed on at the restaurant to clean after work and Cutajar then picked them up from there.

"When I did not pay or did not provide him with the alcohol he phoned me at home and on my mobile phone.

"He would tell me that he was a dangerous man... I finally decided to speak up because I couldn't take it any more and I was in and out of hospital suffering from stomach problems," he said.

The managing director of Melita Restaurant, Emanuel Cassar, followed Bonnici to the witness stand and said that Cutajar had worked at the restaurant as a cook for ten years.

Cassar said he had noticed that although he paid Bonnici almost Lm100 a week he always complained of not having enough money.

"On one occasion Melchior had arrived to work late and told me that he did not have enough money to pay his car insurance. I asked him how come, and what he did with his money, and he told me that he had crashed and was spending his money to pay the man he had crashed into.

"I asked him to meet the man he had crashed into so that I could act as a guarantor but Mario offered to do so instead. Later Mario used to complain with me that Melchior still owed him Lm300," Cassar said.

Cassar also said that there were times when Cutajar asked him to pay Bonnici in advance.

When asked to define the men's characters Cassar said that Cutajar was a bully with his co-workers and defined Bonnici as a "very good person".

Cassar said that last year some Lm900 worth of alcohol had been stolen.

At the end of yesterday's sitting Magistrate Scerri Herrera ruled that there were enough reasons for Cutajar's indictment and granted him bail against a Lm250 deposit, a personal guarantee of Lm1,000 and on the condition that he does not approach the restaurant and Bonnici.

Police Inspector Kevin J. Farrugia is prosecuting.

Dr Anglu Farrugia is appearing for Cutajar.