Updated at 5.05pm with further evidence.
A jeweller’s son has recounted how a violent hold-up left his father brain-damaged and in a state that was "worse than being dead".
Jeweller Joe Carabott, a former sportsman, was gagged, bound and assaulted in his Żurrieq jewellery shop during a robbery on August 25.
Two men and a woman were subsequently arrested and accused of attempted murder, causing Carabott grievous injuries, holding him against his will and robbery.
Zuhair Hadoumi, 26, and Mohamed Anas Boualam, 37, both Moroccans, and Donna Sciberras, 29 a Maltese, are pleading not guilty.
Carabott's son testified in the compilation of evidence against the accused on Wednesday.
Trying to break down shutter
He told the court that his father was now a shadow of his former self. The assault had left him with a skeletal frame, unable to breathe properly or eat on his own.
The son described how on the day of the robbery and assault, he had gone to the shop after his father did not reply to calls.
He found the shutter lowered, but then glimpsed through it and saw his father bound on the floor. He called him repeatedly but was unable to raise the shutter, at one point even considering ramming it with his car.
His sister then arrived along with his brother-in-law and they managed to finally gain access, breaking a bulletproof door to do so.
They found the shop in a state of disarray and their father covered in blood.
Chances of recovery 'close to zero'
Carabott's daughter also took the witness stand, recalling how that day she got a call from her anxious mother saying that her dad had not called for her.
The two had been due to go and play tennis together. It was around 7:40 pm and her father was usually a very punctual person, the daughter testified.
She had asked her mother whether she should go to the shop, and her mother told her that her brother was already on the way there.
Her brother then called, saying he had found the shop shutter down but spotted their father inside.
The woman recounted how she rushed to Żurrieq, where her husband and brother managed to break the glass and entered.
Her father lay on the floor, hands bound behind his back with a pinkish-orange ribbon.
“His head, facing sideways, was double in size, eyes bulging,” recalled the daughter. “He never spoke to us. Not a single word. Never.”
"Our focus was on daddy," she went on.
However, she later noticed that there was shattered glass and signs of theft inside the shop.
Her father was rushed to hospital followed by his relatives. A doctor at the hospital emergency had told them that “things did not look good.”
Asked about his present condition, she said her dad had made no improvement since then.
They were told that “chances of recovery are close to zero.”
Before the incident, her father was a picture of good health, always active, playing tennis, she recalled.
She also recalled that he used to carry a black bag around with him with his personal possessions. She had never seen that bag since then.
Former inmate testifies
A former inmate who got to know Donna Sciberras in jail where she was remanded in preventive custody for allegedly defrauding Carabott’s brother gave a gripping testimony, providing insight into the planning of the Zurrieq robbery.
She said she met Donna while at Corradino’s Female B section. Donna was at Female A.
They got chatting along with other inmates, each recounting personal experiences that had got them there.
After being released from jail on bail on the same day (July 10) they kept in touch and Donna called at her home several times.
Then one day Donna’s mother called her asking about her daughter’s whereabouts.
Donna had left her family home and was living in Zebbuġ.
“Be careful because she’s going to cause you trouble,” the mother warned.
A few days later, the police turned up at her home with an arrest warrant and questioned he at police headquarters over her suspected involvement in the Zurrieq robbery.
She denied she had anything to do with it but told them all she knew.
She had told the police that after stepping out of prison, she once called Donna to share her financial woes, saying that she was even considering selling her mobile phone to make ends meet.
Donna asked her to meet her at the Detox centre and the witness went there, finding Donna with another woman.
After she told them about her financial situation, they hired a car which they said she could use to go to work.
There was also talk about going to the Zurrieq shop which they had spoken about while in jail, but the witness said she warned Donna to be careful.
“Remember what purgatory we went through in jail,” she warned.
But Donna reassured her that all was planned.
A friend of hers was to supply some vehicle number plates.
No sooner had the car been hired that she got a call from Donna’s friend saying that they needed the car “to sort out some stuff.”
She told them they could pick up the car from outside her house. That was the last time she communicated with Donna and her friend.
The witness said she had always made it clear even back in jail that she would never have anything to do with any robbery.
“I never committed theft.”
Donna on her part had told her, “jien ninqala’ ghal dak ix-xoghol.” (I can, because it is what I do.)
When she heard about the robbery on the news, her conscience gave her no rest, the witness said.
“I could not sleep.”
'That shop had long been targeted'
So she confided in a trusted police officer about her suspicions as to who was behind the Zurrieq robbery.
He told her that suspects had already been arrested.
“I would be lying if I said that there was no mention in jail of the various shops. That [Zurrieq] shop had long been targeted.”
But there was no talk about the robbery while in jail, she insisted.
AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Kaylie Bonett, together with inspectors Shaun Pawney, Lydon Zammit, Jonathan Cassar and Stephen Gulia prosecuted. Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell appeared for the Carabott family.