A woman standing trial over her alleged role in two muggings, one of which caused the death of an old woman in Sliema, told a court she was so desperate to get away from her controlling, drug-addicted boyfriend that she got her bail revoked in order to go to prison.

The last straw had been his threat to force her into prostitution, Bernice Camilleri testified.

Her boyfriend, Richard Attard, drove the getaway car on the night of the muggings back in 2010.

“I had no one. I went nowhere without Richard. I had no family, no friends, no one to turn to,” said the woman, now 33.

For almost four hours, Camilleri gave an account of her relationship with Attard, who was jailed for 12 years in 2016 over the muggings and consequent death of 80-year-old Rose Garroni.

Charles Brincat, the other member of the trio involved, testified on Wednesday about his remorse when he heard the woman had died days after the mugging. He pleaded guilty in 2015 and was jailed for 13 years.

It was Brincat who had suggested robbing someone that night to get money for drugs, Camilleri said.

She recounted how she had lost all contact with her family as her then boyfriend took over her life, subjecting her to threats and verbal abuse which ultimately gave way to physical abuse after she accepted to give him a second chance.

The couple would spend most of the day at home, where she put her energy into the housework while Attard would laze about, hooked on drugs.

She had no mobile phone and having one seemed useless since she had no one to call after losing touch with her parents, sister and friends.

“But why didn’t you break up with him?” asked AG lawyer Karl Muscat for the umpteenth time during the lengthy cross-examination, until the woman of slight stature, wearing a black trouser suit, could bear it no longer.

“Can you tell me what I was supposed to do?! When you have a possessive person watching over you, you cannot even walk out through the door alone,” Camilleri burst out, turning to Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja to voice her exasperation at the prosecution’s repetitive questioning.

'He was everywhere all the time'

“Not even when you found a knife hidden under the pillow? Didn’t you fear for your life?,” persisted Muscat with reference to one of the episodes mentioned by Camilleri.

“I had no mobile. I do not drive. [Richard] always insisted on following me wherever I went. Always breathing down my neck,” said the accused, explaining how her then-boyfriend would lock the door to their residence at night.

“I couldn’t. He was everywhere all the time.”

Attard would drag her along with him wherever he went, she said, including that December 8 evening in 2010 when he drove a Fiat to Sliema, his friend Brincat a passenger in front and Camilleri seated at the back.

Attard at first did not seem willing to go along with the plan of stealing to buy drugs, she told the court.

Driving through Sliema, Brincat suddenly cried out, “There’s a woman. Stop here! Stop here!” and he leapt out of the car.

Camilleri, sensing trouble, urged her boyfriend to drive on rather than wait for Brincat.

But Attard turned and slapped her across the face. The blow stunned her.

“I sat there on the back seat, nursing my face, weeping and withdrawing into myself,” recalled Camilleri.

On his return, Brincat rummaged through the contents of the stolen handbag and then they dumped it at Marsa.

The men bought drugs in Cospicua and parked the car to take the drugs.

“Couldn’t you leave?” pressed the prosecution. “Didn’t you fear being drawn into this trouble by going along with them?”

“Of course! I didn’t want the first mugging, let alone the second. But tell me, what could I do?” the woman repeated. “If only I could turn back the clock…”

The woman suddenly gave in to her emotions, wiping away tears and pausing as she lowered her head and the court usher offered her a glass of water. 

'His family were equally possessive'

After the events of that night led to the trio’s arrest, Camilleri was granted bail and went to live with her boyfriend’s family while he remained in custody.

But his family were equally possessive, eavesdropping on her phone calls and following her to the police station when she went to sign the bail book.

“If only I could make some signal or slip a paper to the police [to signal my plight]! But I couldn’t.”

After Attard too was released on bail she managed to convince his father to revoke her own bail so that she could go back to prison.

That was her only chance and hope of breaking up with the man who was even threatening to force her into prostitution, she said.

“I could never accept that.”

From prison, she managed to get back in touch with her family and asked them for forgiveness.

“I made many promises and finally moved back with my parents,” said the woman, visibly moved as she wrapped up her testimony.

AG Anthony Vella is also prosecuting. Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Rebecca Mercieca are defence counsel.

The trial continues.