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Kurt Sansone
David Zerafa, 31 years, from Nadur who was yesterday accused of killing Gozitan lawyer Michael Grech, has a chequered history of violence, death threats and cruelty.
Grech was also the lawyer of Zerafa’s ex-wife in separation proceedings initiated in 2000 and concluded in September 2003.
Although the charge sheet presented by the police does not list the motive for the murder, it is understood that investigators followed various trails and at one point even interrogated David Zerafa’s ex-wife.
Zerafa was accused by the police of killing lawyer Michael Grech in Marsalforn on 25 May 2004. He was also charged with kidnapping the lawyer and of possessing a firearm.
Zerafa was also accused of shooting the pistol in a residential building.
A second person believed to have been on the scene of the crime has not yet been charged by the police.
He works as a beach attendant in Ramla l-Hamra, Gozo, hiring sun beds and umbrellas, and has been separated from his wife for the past five years.
David Zerafa, the man from Nadur accused of murdering Gozitan lawyer Michael Grech last year, has a history of violence and cruelty as ruled by the Magistrates’ Court which found him guilty of “grave offences” that led to the breakdown of his marriage.
The court decree granting official marriage separation says that the offences committed by Zerafa against his child, his wife and her family had to be considered of a “serious nature, if not grave”.
The court ruled that David Zerafa was to blame for the marriage breakdown because of “cruelty and threats against his wife and child” and as a consequence refrained from granting the man access to the minor.
This is the profile of the man who according to police investigations committed the brutal murder of the prominent Gozitan lawyer in the dead of night on 25 May, 2004, with the help of an as yet unknown accomplice.
The next day, Malta and Gozo woke up shocked by the mafia-style killing in the sleepy village of Marsalforn.
Grech was first shot at point blank range while entering his apartment in Santa Marija Street. The bullet did not kill the lawyer instantly; he ran down the stairs but the killers caught up with him just outside the block of apartments in the entrance of a garage complex. It was there that Michael Grech received the final blow that killed him.
A full year had passed since the murder. Police officers investigated every possible motive from land deals to inheritance issues. Given Grech’s high profile in Gozo, his services were sought after by many people. He had also been a shareholder in a prominent construction company.
One person who utilised the lawyer’s services was the ex-wife of the Nadur man, who was yesterday arraigned in court charged with Grech’s murder.
The connection may be purely coincidental but for the moment it is the only visible lead, especially since the police have not yet arraigned the second person who they suspect was also on the scene of the crime. Police had also interrogated Zerafa’s ex-wife during their investigations.
In the separation case, the court noted that David Zerafa had shown indifference to the proceedings, even describing him as “unstable”.
The court granted full custody of the minor to the wife and imposed on David Zerafa the payment of Lm30 a month for the child’s maintenance.
But Zerafa’s ruthless background is also confirmed by a court sentence delivered in January 2004, which found the man guilty of threatening his wife and her family back in 2001. Zerafa was also found guilty of threatening to shoot a man from Sannat when he told him: “I’ll shoot you in your head” (Naghtik zewg tiri go rasek), apart from threatening police officers in Nadur.
At 11.30am yesterday, the police accused Zerafa at the Gozo Magistrates’ Court of consciously causing the death of Michael Grech along with a second person, who has not yet been arraigned.
Zerafa pleaded not guilty to the accusations but his defence team made up of lawyers Robert Refalo and Vincent Galea refrained from asking the court to grant bail – an unusual stand taken by the accused man’s lawyers.
Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona turned down the defence’s plea to appoint a psychiatric expert to examine the accused man’s mental state.
The prosecution is led by Superintendent Pierre Calleja and Inspector Chris Pullicino from the police criminal investigation department. Lawyer Manwel Mallia is appearing parte civile on behalf of the murdered lawyer’s family.
The compilation of evidence against Zerafa is expected to commence in the coming days.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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