Judge's 1990s report into Mintoff shooting incident was shelved, then lost

A former judge had recommended court proceedings over alleged false testimonies used to accuse a man of firing a shot at former prime minister Dom Mintoff, a court heard.

But these proceedings never took place.

The case goes back to October 15, 1979, when Karmenu Grima allegedly attempted to murder Mintoff by entering Castille with a revolver and firing a shot in the prime minister’s direction.

Forty-five years later, Grima’s family is suing the government, claiming their father was a “sacrificial lamb” in a political frame-up and was unjustly accused of trying to assassinate Mintoff.

Testifying before Mr Justice Mark Simiana, retired judge Godwin Muscat Azzopardi said that during the 1990s, under a PN government led by Eddie Fenech Adami, he was tasked with carrying out an investigation into numerous allegations of misconduct taking place in the police corps.

The shooting at Castille was one of the cases he was assigned to investigate.

Police major Eddie Theuma admitted he lied in his testimony after then-assistant police commissioner, Lawrence Pullicino, pressured him to say “the shooting happened in the vicinity of the prime minister”

The former judge recalled that during his investigation, he found conflicting testimonies from two people who were at the scene when the incident took place: then-chief messenger Victor Pace, who got into a scuffle with Grima, and police major Eddie Theuma.

“It wasn’t just a case of differing details. It was a situation where they first said something was white. And then said it was black,” Muscat Azzopardi said.

When Muscat Azzopardi questioned Theuma about this, he admitted he lied in his testimony after then-assistant police commissioner, Lawrence Pullicino, pressured him to say that “the shooting happened in the vicinity of the prime minister”.

Under oath, Pullicino shot down this allegation and told Muscat Azzopardi: “[Theuma] hates me. He’s just making it up”.

In the conclusions of the report, Muscat Azzopardi recommended proceedings over the false testimonies given, which led to Grima being accused of attempted murder.

Muscat Azzopardi said he handed his report to Fenech Adami, then deputy prime minister Guido de Marco, and to the court.

“As far as I know, this report was never followed up on,” Muscat Azzopardi said.

When Alfred Sant became prime minister, his private secretary Frans Sammut informed Muscat Azzopardi they could not find a copy of the report, although it had been filed with the court.

In a previous sitting, retired judge Joseph Filetti – who was the inquiring magistrate at the time of the incident – said Mintoff was in “in another room” when a shot was fired.

Broadcaster Peppi Azzopardi had taken the stand and spoke about a journalistic investigation he carried out with newspaper Alternattiva which claimed that Pace and Theuma gave false testimonies.

The article had highlighted how, in his initial testimony, Pace never said Grima fired a shot at Mintoff. Months down the line, Pace said that Mintoff was there when the gun went off. Azzopardi said he had also interviewed Theuma who admitted he lied in his testimony: “They pressured me to say I heard Mintoff talking behind a door,” Azzopardi recited.

The story goes like this

On that October morning, Grima went to Castille wanting to speak with Mintoff as he had a letter with information about top minister Lorry Sant.

At the entrance of Castille was Victor Pace who stopped Grima from meeting Mintoff. They got into a scuffle and the police intervened.

Five shots were fired, three hitting Grima. Grima suffered over 40 stitches after being hit over the head with a hard object.

The Department of Information released a statement saying a man had barged into Castille, armed with a revolver, demanding to see the prime minister. He had fired at Mintoff’s chief messenger, the statement added. 

News of the alleged attempted murder angered Labour supporters who ransacked and set fire to Strickland House, the offices of Times of Malta at the time. They then broke into then opposition leader Fenech Adami’s house, attacking his wife and traumatising his children.

This notorious day became known as Black Monday.

After Grima was arrested, he was taken to Mount Carmel Hospital and was not allowed to see his family for six months. He remained in Mount Carmel for many years until he was discharged in 1989. Grima died in 1995.