Man from viral Feliċ video declines to testify against person who filmed it

The man who features in a viral video showing him having sex with a woman at the Luqa Boċċi Club has declined to testify against the man who filmed it, to avoid incriminating himself.

Inspector Kurt Farrugia took the witness stand before Magistrate Nadine Lia this morning as the case against 35 year-old Mark Cachia Zammit continued.

The inspector told the court that the police had received a report about an explicit sex video that was circulating on social media and analysed the footage, identifying the Luqa bocci club as the place.

The video, he said, shows a group of young men around a billiard table, egging on another man who was receiving oral sex from a woman. The bystanders are heard calling the man Feliċ.

A second video showed the same man having sex with the woman, with more  encouragement from the onlookers, who also referred to him as Feliċ.

The police had ascertained that the man featured in the video is Felix Vella, who was sent for by the police. Vella had told interrogators that the occasion was supposed to be a meal between friends. He had been invited to it by his friend, the accused who is known as il- Ginger. Vella also said that he knew the other men by sight from Birzebbugia.

The woman and the group of men had been outside the club when he arrived and had followed Vella into the premises.

“He said he had done what he had done out of his own free will. He did not know the woman, but she had started flirting with him and so he decided to do it, to entertain his friends.” The group had paid the woman some €10 each, Vella had told the police, while his friends had paid for his meal.

Vella identified Cachia Zammit as having filmed the incident and said that he had not consented to the video being shared, in particular because it would offend his family. Since its dissemination, he would be catcalled in the street, he said.

Cachia Zammit was later arrested and questioned in the presence of lawyer Jason Azzopardi. He confirmed that he had organised the meal together with his friends, but said that he did not know all of the attendees as some were other people’s guests.

The inspector recalled Cachia Zammit as saying that the couple were “having fun together” and that they were already kissing each other by the time he had arrived. He had been eating his mean while the couple were being filmed, he said.

But discrepancies arose when the defendant’s mobile phone had been analysed by the police. Several chats showed that Cachia Zammit had sent the video to another person with the message “Felix king, eh?”, and not received it and deleted it as he had claimed.

Further analysis of the device showed that the video had been taken on it and later deleted.

The defendant had later confessed to filming the scene and sending it to two other people, stressing that he had not done so to hurt the participants and had called Felix up afterwards to apologise.

He told the police that while none of the participants in the video had given him consent to film the encounter, “nobody had stopped him either.”

The number of the woman in question was also found on Cachia Zammit’s phone, saved as “Felix Woman.” He told the police that this was because Felix fancied her. Cachia Zammit did not answer further questions, exercising his right to silence, said the inspector.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Jason Azzopardi, the inspector said that the police report had been made anonymously.

He confirmed that the video had been sent together with the message “keep this to yourself” and that the defendant has said he was very sorry for what happened and had wanted to apologise to the woman.

Some 13 people were around the table at the time, all of whom are currently being investigated by the police, he said in reply to further questions.

It also emerged that Cachia Zammit had subsequently filed a police report against the owner of the bar, claiming harassment after allegedly being bombarded with phone calls from the man.

The viral clip’s protagonist, Felix Vella, from Zurrieq, also took the stand today.

Before he said anything, Inspector Farrugia informed the court that there was a “good chance” that Vella could also face charges, and asked the court to administer a caution to the witness.

The Magistrate asked whether the investigation was concluded or not. It was still open, said the inspector. “We are definitely going to charge him,” he said, “by summons.”

Magistrate Lia pointed out that not two seconds previously, he had said that the prosecution were yet to decide on whether to press charges against Vella.

“There is a good chance that all of our witnesses will be in the same position,” replied the inspector.

Insisting that she wanted things to be done properly, the magistrate said Vella had to be allowed to consult with a lawyer first. If the police decided that charges were to be pressed, the witness must be administered a caution, she said.

The witness was ordered not to testify until his legal position is clear.

Before adjourning the case to November, the court decreed that there was sufficient prima facie evidence for an indictment to be issued should the Attorney General choose to.