Two Opposition MPs and an outspoken university academic testified on Monday about a string of anonymous letters sent to their workplace and homes which they said were meant to stop them from airing their political views in public.  

When the first letter landed on his desk on July 12, consultant surgeon Kevin Cassar “turned cold” as he opened the envelope and read the abusive and insulting contents inside. 

Cassar is a Times of Malta opinion writer. 

Cassar was testifying in proceedings against 71-year old Valletta resident Joseph Mary Borg, who was arraigned last month as the suspect behind numerous threatening letters to various public figures and others who, like Cassar, regularly expressed political views in local media. 

On August 4, Cassar received another letter at his workplace, running much along the same lines and in the same handwriting, replete with vulgarity and insults towards his mother who “had given birth to some form of a transparent tadpole.”

The sender branded Cassar “a liar” whose pen “exuded vomit” and who “deceived the public,” the court was told.

The letters referred to Cassar’s relatives, including his “brother-in-law” Opposition MP Beppe Fenech Adami and his brother Michael Fenech Adami whom the writer claimed to have “taken €500,000 and caused Gozo Channel to go bankrupt.”

Both letters were immediately handed over to the police on the same day of delivery, Cassar said.

In October, Cassar came across a third letter. This one was addressed to his wife and posted in the family's letterbox.

Cassar said he recognised the handwriting at once and after giving the contents a quick look, he headed straight to the police station without even letting his wife know.

Whoever wrote those letters was clearly influenced by criticism of him on various TV, radio and online channels, Cassar said, adding that the intention was to stop him from writing and expressing his opinion.

He said the sender’s intention was to instil fear. The fact that close family members were roped in, made matters worse.

Attacking Ryan Callus' mother

Opposition MP Ryan Callus was also on the receiving end. He testified about one such letter he received on April 28 last year, while attending a parliamentary sitting. 

The sender did not stop at attacking the politician’s views, particularly on the energy sector about which he had been vociferous, but also wrote about his mother who had died two years earlier.

One message that particularly impacted Callus was the writer’s reference to his missionary work.

“Your missionary work is pointless if you persist in lying,” went the letter.

Callus said he had felt so threatened that he had referred to the letter during his speech in parliament that same day and handed the letter to the clerk of the house, for the matter to be referred to the police.

The letter was clearly intended to scare him and disrupt him from his public duties, Callus said.

Fenech Adami exhibits letters from five years ago

Next, Opposition MP Beppe Fenech Adami exhibited letters he had received back in 2016 and 2017 which appeared to emanate from the same anonymous pen.

Reading out passages, Fenech Adami gave presiding Magistrate Astrid May Grima a general overview of the letters’ contents. 

The sender called him a “liar like his father” and calling him and his wife “thieves.”

Worse still was a reference to the MP’s personal battle with cancer.

Whoever wrote those letters also appeared to know about Fenech Adami’s daily schedule, by referring to how the MP would “play with his mobile in church.”

Fenech Adami said that as a public figure, he was used to attacks. 

However, he testified that it was getting worse, with people hurling insults at him in the streets. 

“It’s this atmosphere that worries me. I’m not bothered when someone insults me in my face but anonymous letters are worrying,” Fenech Adami said, also presenting the court with a number of copies of pages out of the PL electoral manifesto with more offensive messages scrawled across them.

Accused granted bail

As the sitting came to an end, the court upheld a request for bail since the prosecution did not object once half the alleged victims had testified and as long as adequate measures were imposed.

Borg was granted bail against a deposit of €2,000, a personal guarantee of €10,000 and an order to sign the bail book twice a week. 

The court further warned the accused not to approach or molest or communicate with the alleged public figures and their families in terms of a protection order that was to remain in force until final judgment. 

The case continues in January.

Inspector Kurt Farrugia prosecuted.

Lawyers Henry Antoncich and Joseph Calleja appeared for the defence. 

Lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia assisted Fenech Adami and Callus.