A 71-year-old man has recounted how he was forced to pay €37,000 to blackmailers who threatened to chop off his fingers and rape his wife and daughter if he dared tell the police.
Prosecutors say the man was the victim of an extortion that began when two sons of a prostitute he visited burst into the room and threatened him with a knife.
Three men and three women stand accused of various crimes in the case.
Speaking in English and testifying via videoconference for four hours on Wednesday, the victim identified four of the defendants.
The soft-spoken witness ran the court through his various encounters, generally marked by physical violence and verbal threats, with three of the accused - brothers Clyde and Mario Mallia and their friend Massimo Fasanelli.
He said other encounters with Chanelle Spiteri, another of the defendants, were of a different kind.
The man had been introduced to Spiteri by Mallia’s mother. He used to meet both women separately for sexual services.
The witness said he never met Christine and Xasnolley Schembri, the last two defendants. Their alleged involvement in the blackmail was to receive funds channelled from his account to their accounts under orders of Clyde Mallia.
“Lucy sent me a message”
It all started on January 26, 2022 when the Mallias’ mother, whom he affectionately referred to as “Lucy” texted him, asking him to drive her to the Detox Centre where she habitually went for treatment.
He had first met the woman in 2007 while passing through Testaferrata Street.
“She looked nice. Nice dress. I decided to stop,” said the witness, recounting that first encounter with the woman in that red light district.
They went to her room and had sex that day.
For several years he used to see Lucy in that area.
The two continued to meet and their relationship developed from one that was purely “for services” to “mutual respect,” he said. That was why he sometimes stepped in to help when 'Lucy' asked for some assistance.
On that January 2022 day, he called for her at her Għaxaq home, and took her to detox and back. They then went upstairs to her room.
After a few minutes, a commotion broke out outside and two men burst into the room. They were Lucy’s sons, Mario and Clyde.
The siblings shouted at him in Maltese, pushing him onto the bed.
Clyde had a 25-centimetre kitchen knife in hand and threatened to cut his fingers off.
They were “very threatening men,” said the witness, adding that he was “very frightened” at the time.
He said Mario head-butted him on the right side of his head several times. Though not knocked unconscious, he fell onto the bed.
Days later, he still had bruises on the right side from the ribs down to his legs.
'If you go to the police, your wife and daughter will be raped'
The brothers grabbed his phone and ordered him to transfer €5000 to Spiteri’s account. But they then upped their demand to €14,000 when they saw his account balance, he said.
“I was very much under duress. I thought I would be beaten again. I had no choice. I was not in a position to argue,” the witness said.
The brothers left the house with his phone, bank cards and car key.
While they were out, their mother dabbed his bloodied head with a damp cloth.
Half an hour or so later, the brothers returned.
“If you go to the police, your wife and daughter will be raped,” they warned him.
He took his possessions and drove away.
“It was too dangerous”
A few weeks later, his health deteriorated and he was taken to hospital.
Doctors told his family that his brain was bleeding as a result of some repetitive injury to the head.
His family thought that he might have banged his head against the cooker hood.
A few months later, he again began to meet Lucy and Chanelle “for services” but meetings with Chanelle were “considerably reduced” when she was pregnant.
“Where are the videos?”
On May 18 2024, the victim said he was waiting for Chanelle close to her Rabat home when a car screeched to a halt next to his car.
Three men stepped out. He immediately recognized the Mallias and another man, later identified as Fasanelli.
They got into his car, ordered him to sit at the back and drove fast to Għaxaq.
Back at the Mallias’ home - their mother 'Lucy' had since passed away - he was tasered by Mario.
“I told him I suffered from a heart condition after the first shock. But there were several more.”
Then Clyde demanded €17,000, the man testified.
When he told them that he did not have that much money, the three men bundled him into his car and drove him to his home.
Fasanelli demanded to see videos that the victim had filmed of himself with Lucy and Chanelle, with their consent.
He directed his aggressors to the videos on a coffee table.
Then he watched as Fasanelli “wearing gloves” took an expensive Seiko watch and cash from a bedside table.
Fasanelli told him to tell his wife that he needed her bank card to pay for €1000 in damages caused to Fasanelli’s Mercedes.
That, the witness said, was “just a ploy” to get the wife’s card and then transfer €17,000 demanded by his blackmailers.
The witness eventually took his wife’s card when she dozed off after he called for her at a friend’s house and drove her home later that day.
Threatened to show porn videos to wife
The witness said that a short time later, Clyde Mallia upped the demand to €22,000 and threatened to show the videos to his wife.
He paid the money after various visits to the bank and several transactions.
He thought that was the end of it, but on June 1, Clyde turned up again, demanding €40,000.
He said he had watched those videos and they “made him mad.”
Clyde again threatened to kill him, dropping hints about the “mafia” and saying that he had African and Serbian friends.
The victim replied that he did not have that kind of money and Clyde promptly stole his car.
Some days later, the victim’s phone rang at 3:45am with further threats.
The victim said that was when he decided to tell his wife what had been going on, and he took her to “a safe place.”
He also went to a lawyer, opened up about his ordeal and finally filed a report at Valletta police station.
He said that he paid a global sum of €37,000.
Under cross-examination, the witness said that he never tried to retrieve the money from the Schembri’s because “it was pointless.”
He also confirmed that he used to visit Lucy in her last days in hospital, giving her some money for snacks. But he denied buying her drugs.
At the end of the sitting Massimo Fasanelli was granted bail. The accused women were all granted bail previously Mario Mallia's arrest was declared invalid upon arraignment and he was discharged. Clyde Mallia is still awaiting bail.
The case, presided by Magistrate Leonard Caruana, continues in October.
AG lawyers Darlene Grima and Charmaine Abdilla are prosecuting together with Inspectors Stephen Gulia and Andrew Agius Bonello.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit were counsel to the Mallias. Herman Mula was counsel to Fasanelli. Mario and Nicholas Mifsud were counsel to the Schembris. Francesca Zarb was counsel to Spiteri. Michael Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri appeared for the victim.