Court hears of plot to push victim off a cliff

A month before a woman was shot dead at Ta' Qali the police had been informed that someone was planning to kill her, a court heard yesterday.

Inspector Christopher Pullicino told Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima that sometime in January police had been informed that Richard Attard wanted to kill his wife Patricia because she wanted to separate from him and take his money.

Attard, who was called in for questioning, denied the allegations but told the police he was angry at his wife because she took the money he made from his garage and got into debt.

The witness explained that on February 14, Attard's wife was found dead in a van at Ta' Qali.

He explained how Attard continued denying the allegations and how investigations led to the arrest of Josef Grech, who worked for Attard.

The officer was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Grech, 32, of Balzan who is pleading not guilty to Attard's murder.

He is also charged with the possession of a weapon at the time of the commission of the crime and without a licence, stealing Attard's mobile phone and damaging her car.

The officer explained that Attard and his son, also called Richard, were called in for questioning when the woman was found dead. Swabs of their clothes were taken for gun shot residue tests.

Attard denied any involvement in the murder and his son explained that at the time of the murder he was at his house with his girlfriend. He gave her a lift home at about 11.30 p.m. and went back home immediately. As he was parking he noticed that the van Grech usually drove was not in the garage as it usually was.

Investigations revealed that on the night of the murder the victim had gone to a bingo club in Qawra and a closed-circuit camera of the club showed that she left the place at about 11.15 p.m.

The inspector said it had been established that the van she was found dead in had been parked at Ta' Qali since about 11.30 p.m. on February 13.

When the woman was found dead her mobile phone was missing and so the police, with the permission of the inquiring magistrate, investigated the phone calls made to and from her phone.

Records showed that at about 10.22 p.m. Grech had phoned Attard on her mobile phone and some time later she received two phone calls from a mobile phone number registered under Grech's wife, Cynthia.

Further investigations revealed that the victim left the club shortly after receiving the phone calls. In fact, a certain Jane Sciberras who was with her at the club told the police she was leaving to meet Grech and would be back soon.

Consequently, Grech was arrested and swabs taken for examination. He explained that on the night of the murder he was working. He drove a group of people from Gzira to Rabat for a meal and then drove them back to Gzira after which he took the van to Attard's garage and went home.

The police questioned the people who attended the meal and some confirmed they were already home by 10.30 p.m.

Grech told the police the victim had contacted him, while he was still in Gzira, to ask him to do the Qawra trip instead of her. However, during a confrontation, Attard's daughter, Sharon Sammut, said that her mother never gave the Qawra trip to anyone but insisted on doing it herself.

Superintendent Pierre Calleja explained that the police were informed that gun shot residue had been found on Grech and on some clothes lifted from his Balzan house. When Grech was confronted with this information he explained that on February 13 at about 11.30 a.m. he had stopped at Dingli to unwind and met a hunter who fired three shots in his presence.

The witness said he believed this to be "somewhat incredible" since it was the close season and when the police searched the area no recently spent cartridges were found.

During the investigations the police were informed that a certain Charles Vella had been approached by Grech to commit a crime. Vella told the police that sometime around Christmas Grech had asked him to help him get rid of a woman while they were speaking at the San Gwann bocci club in the presence of third parties.

Vella said that Grech eventually told him that the woman was Patricia Attard and that her husband had commissioned him to kill her and was willing to pay.

He also said that once he had gone with the accused and the victim to Mellieha, near Torri L-Ahmar, where Grech planned to push her off a cliff.

Grech had instructed him to wait in the vicinity for half an hour before checking what had happened. When Grech did not return within the agreed time he went to see what had happened and was relieved to see them speaking in the van.

A certain Emanuel Caruana also said he had been approached by Grech to "carry out a job" which Grech eventually explained consisted of killing a woman.

The case continues tomorrow.

Inspectors Chris Pullicino and Carmel Bartolo are prosecuting.

Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Emanuel Mallia are appearing for Grech.