Judge challenges woman over relationship with accused, victim

A judge presiding over an attempted murder trial, yesterday ordered the temporary arrest of a witness after ruling he had reason to believe she was not saying the whole truth.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono suspended the testimony of Rachel Schembri and ordered her arrest when she insisted that although she had a relationship with Noel Mizzi - who is charged with the attempted murder of Albert Mark Sammut - she never had a relationship with Mr Sammut.

Ms Schembri took the witness stand yesterday afternoon in the trial by jury against her boyfriend, Mr Mizzi, 29, of Zurrieq, who is pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Sammut when he stabbed him with a penknife in Paceville on April 21, 2002.

The bill of indictment drawn up by the prosecution claims that the two men had a disagreement over a woman, apart from other things, and on the day of the incident Mr Mizzi stabbed Mr Sammut in the abdomen with a penknife causing serious injuries.

During her evidence, Ms Schembri explained that at the time of the incident she was seeing Mr Mizzi, who was not yet separated and, for that reason, they did not meet regularly. Now, three years later, Mr Mizzi was separated and they were still together.

On the day of the incident she was at Footloose bar in Paceville, where Mr Sammut was also present. She had told him to leave Mr Mizzi alone because, she said, he seemed to have something against Mr Mizzi. She explained that Mr Sammut often told her to leave Mr Mizzi because he was married and wanted her to go out with him.

That day she was trying to convince Mr Sammut not to send a text message to Mr Mizzi. Although she did not see the message Mr Sammut read it out before he sent it to Mr Mizzi who, at the time, was in a bar in Mqabba. She said Mr Mizzi arrived at Footloose about 10 minutes after the message was sent. When she saw him walk into the bar she went away because she was afraid of what might happen.

At this point Mr Justice Galea Debono asked her if there were problems between her and Mr Mizzi at the time because, he explained, when a person's boyfriend arrives the person would usually greet him and not run away. She denied there was anything wrong and also denied she was acting cold towards him. Ms Schembri explained that at the time Mr Mizzi was still married so they did not meet regularly.

The judge asked her if she had ever gone out with Mr Sammut and she replied she had never done so as a couple but had met him occasionally while out.

She again denied ever having a relationship with Mr Sammut and that was when the judge ordered her arrest. Ms Schembri's testimony was suspended as the judge ruled he had reason to believe she was not saying the whole truth.

When she was called back to the witness stand, about 45 minutes later, the judge explained to her it was important she said the truth and that what she said made sense.

She explained that on the day of the incident she had gone to Footloose with a friend of hers and there they met Mr Sammut and his friends. She thought there was nothing wrong in speaking to him.

Answering a question by Dr Anthony Barbara, Ms Schembri said Mr Mizzi was not jealous of Mr Sammut. Soon after, replying to a question put by Mr Mizzi's lawyers under cross-examination she said it was Mr Sammut who was jealous of Mr Mizzi.

She explained that on hearing what had happened on the day of the incident she went to hospital to find out for herself. The judge asked her why she had gone to see her boyfriend's "enemy" rather than her boyfriend. She explained she could not go and visit her boyfriend because he was not yet separated from his wife, adding she had phoned him and he sounded worried.

The judge told her it seemed that at the time she was more "inclined" towards Mr Sammut than her boyfriend. She insisted she was telling the truth and, had she wanted to lie, she could have omitted mentioning going to hospital.

The judge told her that the fact that she went to hospital was not contested, but the reason why was. She said that once she had asked Mr Sammut to leave Mr Mizzi alone earlier that evening she felt she should go and see what happened.

Ms Schembri also denied fanning Mr Sammut's anger prior to the incident, as suggested by the judge.

Earlier, former Police Inspector David Saliba said that after having been informed that a man was injured he went to hospital where the patient, Mr Sammut, said that a certain Noel Camilleri had assaulted him

It turned out that he had the wrong surname and eventually the police traced Mr Mizzi who turned up at the police headquarters.

There he was cautioned and questioned about the incident. He admitted he was involved in a Paceville fight with Mr Sammut and told the police that some time earlier the two men, who were both van drivers, had argued over some trip involving foreign students.

On the night of the incident, Mr Mizzi said, he was at a club in Mqabba with his brother when he received a text message from Mr Sammut challenging him to go to Footloose.

When he arrived at the bar he went straight up to Mr Sammut who punched him and the bouncers immediately kicked Mr Mizzi out. Mr Mizzi waited outside the bar and when Mr Sammut walked out, he (Mr Mizzi) found a piece of metal on ground, hit him with it and left.

Some days later, Mr Saliba said, Mr Mizzi told the police he had given the penknife with which he stabbed Mr Sammut to his brother.

In a statement, read out to jurors, Mr Mizzi told the police that on the night of the incident, after having been kicked out of Footloose, he went outside and phoned Mr Sammut on his mobile phone to challenge him to step outside.

Mr Mizzi told the police Mr Sammut did go outside holding a beer bottle and, on seeing this, he (Mr Mizzi) hit Mr Sammut before risking being hit by the bottle.

Mr Mizzi said Mr Sammut told him he would kill him once out of hospital.

Mr Saliba said he had learnt that the argument between the two men took place because of a woman called Rachel, who was dating both of them, but Mr Mizzi insisted on keeping her out of it.

The trial continues this morning.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara is prosecuting.

Dr José Herrera and Dr Roberto Montalto are appearing for Mr Mizzi.