Former prison official Randolph Spiteri tried to broker a settlement between a Transport Malta official accused of sexual harassment and his victim's husband, a court heard on Wednesday. 

A man, whose wife claimed to have been sexually harassed at the workplace by Transport Malta official Clint Axisa, testified that he had received a call from Spiteri, urging him to reach some sort of amicable “settlement.”

Axisa, an enforcement officer currently suspended from the job, stands charged with the sexual harassment of a female colleague and another woman.

The alleged wrongdoing was first flagged by independent election candidate Arnold Cassola and Axisa was arraigned in February. 

The husband of one of the victims took the witness stand on Wednesday, recalling how his wife had first broached the subject, preparing him to take the news “calmly” and warning that what she was about to tell him was not “pleasant.”

He said that she had detailed how her boss, Axisa, would harass her and had once also touched her breasts.

This eventually led the woman to file a report at work on February 14. 

Later that afternoon, the husband had visited his in-laws and said that a friend of his father-in-law had turned up to speak to them.

It was a certain Anthony Ellul who also wanted to see the harassment issue resolved amicably. 

“Let’s reach an agreement at a table as friends. Let’s agree on something between us,” the man allegedly tried to convince the father of the alleged victim.

A WhatsApp call from Spiteri

Days later, on February 18, the woman’s husband got a WhatsApp call on his personal number from Randolph Spiteri, second-in-command at Corradino Correctional Facility.

“What’s up? What’s happening?” Spiteri asked.

It suddenly dawned on the witness that the caller, whom he knew through his former job as CCF officer, was actually asking about the matter concerning his wife.

“Are you calling me because of my wife’s problem?” asked the man.

Spiteri replied in the affirmative, urging the husband to “meet around a table” and find some solution to the problem.

“You’re a good boy. We’ll fix something. We’ll get over this,” urged Spiteri.

But the victim’s husband would not commit himself, telling the caller that he would get back to him.

And he did, after informing his wife about the call.

“Listen, these things are not on,” the witness recalled telling Spiteri.

“Does that mean that you’re telling me ‘no’?” asked Spiteri.

“Yes,” replied the man, testifying about that unexpected conversation and confirming that Spiteri had called from his mobile number.

A female sergeant from the Vice Squad also testified about the versions supplied by a number of people spoken to by investigators.

Anthony Ellul had approached the victim’s father telling him Axisa wanted to meet him.

Axisa’s wife had also allegedly called the victim on Ellul’s mobile, telling her not to “cause trouble for them” and adding, “I know what kind of husband I’ve got”.

Co-workers back 'trustworthy' Axisa 

An enforcement supervisor at Transport Malta defended Axisa and told police that he was “highly trustworthy”.

The alleged victim, on the other hand, spoke “in a vulgar manner,” the official claimed.

Axisa gathered all workmates for a meeting, informing them that one of them had reported him for alleged sexual harassment.

On one occasion, the alleged victim had pulled up her skirt jokingly and although “nothing showed,” the official who had allegedly witnessed the incident subsequently told Axisa about it.

A female executive official working in the same office as Axisa, told police that he sometimes spoke “disparagingly” but she had never reported him.

All she could tell about the victim was that she had once heard her complain that “she worked too much for the pay she received.”

Another female employee who previously shared an open plan office with the alleged victim, told police that she had requested an office of her own because she did not feel “comfortable” with the other woman’s attitude.

Wednesday’s hearing had an animated start because the prosecution requested court authorization to correct an error in the original charge sheet.

That error concerned the date when the alleged criminal wrongdoing occurred.

Axisa’s lawyers, Arthur Azzopardi and Herman Mula, argued that the request ought to have been put in the proper form by the Attorney General, questioning the relative article on which the request was being based.

Parte civile lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri soon provided that reply.

The court, presided over by magistrate Monica Vella, ultimately acceded to the request, allowing the correction.

The case continues next month.

Inspectors Joseph Busuttil and Paul Camilleri prosecuted.  Lara Dimitrijevic appeared for one of the victims.

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