A widow has described in court how her husband told her "I don’t have much longer to live", days before he disappeared 18 years ago and who is believed to have been murdered.

Albert Brian Rosso left his place of work for a meeting on October 10, 2005, and has not been seen since. Anthony Bugeja, now 55, and Piero Di Bartolo, now 49, stand accused of wilful murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and disposing of Rosso’s body by placing it inside a sack and dumping it at sea off Benghajsa. His body was never recovered. The two were Rosso's former associates on the fishing vessel he used to own.

Mary Rose Rosso, a retired teacher, said her husband was no coward but he had changed suddenly, constantly fretting about “threats” to his life, sometimes too scared to go to work and once telling her that he did not have much longer to live.

The woman described how every morning she used to lay out her husband’s clothes and see him off to work at around 7am.

But that October 10 she planned an earlier start since she had to arrange the classroom before lessons and so called out to her husband telling him she would not accompany him to the door. He called back, telling her it was “okay.”

That was the last time she heard his voice.

“That day I did not go downstairs and I regret it to this very day,” recalled the widow, all dressed in black, as she testified late on Wednesday.

The woman led the judge and jury through the events of that day which took another twist when her husband failed to return home in the afternoon and did not answer her phone calls.  

That day Rosso had scheduled an appointment for his wife to take her car for rustproofing services.

When he did not show up, and her daughter worried that she would arrive late for her lesson, the woman headed out, hoping her husband would meet them later.

But her car broke down along the way and it was late by the time she got back home, only to find that her husband had not yet returned.

“I thought it rather strange. He would usually answer our calls.”

She asked an in-law to accompany her while she went out to look for him, tracing his route back from San Luċjan aquaculture centre where he worked.  A watchman told her he had not seen him.

She also called Bugeja’s wife to obtain the address of “the Italians” who used to work on her husband’s trawler, hoping they might have some news.

At around 9pm she went to Żabbar police station to report that her husband was missing.

Mary Rose Rosso said her husband was “no coward” but that changed suddenly.

Sometimes he was too scared to venture out to work- Widow

He would not trust their daughter anywhere, insisted on locking up everywhere at home and sometimes he was too scared to venture out to work.

“They’re threatening us,” he repeatedly told her.

When she asked what he meant, he constantly made reference to “the Sicilians” and said: “so Toni [the accused] tells me.”

“But the less you know, the better. Don’t worry,” he’d reassure her when she tried to get more details.

The woman said her husband had even bought a pistol which he carried around in his small black pouch.

One day while the couple was watching television, he told her, “I don’t have much longer to live. Just take care of our daughter.”

She was taken aback, thinking he might have received some negative medical results. But he was obviously referring to the death threats.

The witness said she was puzzled because she and her husband had many Sicilian friends and never had any problems.

“Our daughter’s godfather was Sicilian too,” she explained.

Fishing was his hobby and a rather expensive one, having to pay for a costly trawling licence, fuel and all the rest, she added.

But whenever she suggested that he ought to sell the boat, licence and all, to get rid of all the trouble, he would tell her he was saving so as to be able to fund their daughter’s future studies abroad.

As the sole owner of the vessel, named after their daughter Desiree, he paid all the licensing and related expenses.

He had also bought out the share of his former partner, Sebastiano Lupo.

Bugeja had wanted to buy that share and was in discussions with her husband, but they never reached an agreement, testified the witness.

Following her husband’s disappearance, she eventually sold the vessel and licence, depositing half the money at the notary to secure Bugeja’s pretended rights over the sale.

Bugeja had sued the family but lost the civil lawsuit in 2016.

Incidents at sea

The witness then recalled two episodes her husband had gone through while out on his trawler at sea.

One summer, her marine biologist husband was feeding two dolphins which frolicked in the waters alongside the trawler when suddenly, a shot rang out.

One of the dolphins was hit.

He turned around and saw Bugeja holding a rifle.

Her husband angrily told him off as he always insisted on not having weapons on board.

“That’s it! I’ve had enough of Toni,” he angrily told his wife when he returned home.

Another time, while winching up their fishing nets at sea, Brian Rosso told Anthony Bugeja not to reverse the vessel.

His instruction was ignored and the nets got entangled in the propellor.

“You have to go in [the water] Brian,” Bugeja said.

Bugeja could not swim.

Her husband was rather wary at the time but dived in and while still underwater, Bugeja started the engine.

“You know you could have killed me?” her husband had protested.

“It was a mistake,” was the reply he got from Bugeja, the widow testified.

She said the family was badly affected by the whole affair of her husband's disappearance, “psychologically, financially and physically.”

As sole breadwinner she had to go to work, focusing on her lessons throughout the day.

“But when I returned home and found the place empty…” ended the witness, her voice trailing off as emotions took over.

The trial continues.

AG lawyers Angele Vella and Andrea Zammit are prosecuting.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Franco Debono are counsel to Bugeja.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto is counsel to Di Bartolo.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti is representing the family.