Court hears account of monstrous ordeal in case of alleged rape and torture in Birkirkara diner

The battered and bloodied woman rescued by police from inside a locked diner last month, told the officers that she had been tortured for hours and raped by her date in a cocaine-fuelled orgy of violence, a court heard today.

Magistrate Elaine Rizzo heard the testimony of two police officers who had arrested 41-year-old Keith Gravina at a diner in Birkirkara on 30 September.

Arraigned last week, Gravina is denying charges of attacking the woman and inflicting grievous bodily harm with a sharp and pointed instrument, as well as holding the woman against her will. He was further accused of the possession and supplying of cocaine, disobeying the police’s legitimate orders, and breaching bail conditions that had been imposed on him in June 2022.

In court on Friday the police officers vividly described hearing glassware smashing and punches connecting, as the woman desperately cried for help and begged Gravina to stop beating her, while they struggled to open the diner’s closed shutter.

A police sergeant was the first witness to testify, explaining that he had found the diner’s main door locked shut and so was the shutter behind it.

The officers had knocked on the shutter and shouted orders to Gravina, telling him to open the door but had been ignored. “We could hear her being beaten.”

RIU officers responded to a call for backup and together with the other officers, had lifted the shutter open. “The terrorised sounds continued for the minutes it took us to open the shutter,” said the sergeant. The police officers then entered the diner, with their tazers drawn.

Gravina looked disoriented and repeatedly told the officers “This is a game.” He did not resist arrest and was put in the back of an RIU car while other officers called an ambulance.

“He was surprised and confused, and kept saying ‘this is a game’, like he was in a daze,” said the witness.

The woman was found on the floor, in a state of undress, he said, explaining that her underwear had been pulled down to her ankles and her face was bloody and bruised. Asked by the officers whether she had been raped, the terrified woman initially said she didn’t know. She told the police that Gravina had tortured her “for hours, wrapped electrical cords around her and tried to plug them in and poured vinegar over her head,” said the officer.

Gravina was not injured, added the policeman. “He was drenched in sweat and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.”

Prosecutor Etienne Savona asked the witness what words he had heard the woman say while they were struggling with the shutter. “She was calling for help and saying ‘Keith stop, stop, leave me alone.’...Sounds of things being thrown about and breaking. Someone banging on the other side of the shutter. She was being hit up till the last second”

The woman later told the police that she had been on a first date with Gravina, and that they had been having a good time until he consumed some drugs and became paranoid. Then he started calling her “Roberta” and beating her up. Every time she tried to stand up he would become more ferocious, beating and jumping on her, she told the police, also accusing him of trying to rape her with a metal rod.

The sergeant told the court that he noticed several lines of what is suspected to be cocaine on the counter inside the diner. The woman’s broken fingernails and watch were among the objects found on the ground.

Asked what he had interpreted the sounds he heard to mean, he replied “at that moment the person was kidnapped. The blows could be heard clearly.”

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Matthew Xuereb, the witness clarified that the police had gained entry through a side door. “What happened after he came out?” asked the lawyer.

“He didn’t want to come out, we took him out when he started threatening us.” replied the police officer, confirming that Gravina had started to cooperate as soon as he recognised the uniform.

The lawyer asked about the white powder on the service counter, suggesting that the victim had also consumed cocaine. “She said that Keith took around three lines, while she took one,” replied the officer. 

Although Gravina had not been tested for drugs at the scene, he had been completely soaked with sweat, the officer said.

Challenged by Xuereb about why the police had only taken down the woman’s account at the scene, he replied that “Keith was not in a state to speak to us…there was clearly only one victim.”

Replying to another question from the defence, the officer confirmed that the woman had told the police that she had gone to the diner voluntarily.

The court asked whether anyone else had been inside the property. The witness replied in the negative. “We didn’t hear Keith talking, the only voice was female, saying ‘Keith let me go, Keith please’ stuff like that,” he added.

The second police officer to testify today had also gone to the scene. He gave a similar account of hearing cries for help and the sounds of a struggle emanating from inside the diner. “We feared it was a life and death situation,” he said, so the officers forced the shutter open.

He estimated that it took the officers “around 30 minutes” to gain entry to the premises.

Xuereb objected when told that the victim would be testifying via video conferencing. “She is over 18, a competent and compellable witness, and the prosecution has not yet declared that no charges would be filed against her,” he said, adding that Gravina had also filed a police report against the woman.

Savona explained to the court that when the defendant was briefly taken outside the courtroom today, the woman, who had been waiting in the corridor, had suffered a panic attack.

During the investigation, details emerged which had not come out in court today, he said. “Unfortunately this is not a normal fight. What she is going to testify about, in very extensive detail…it would be best for her to testify via video conferencing.” Being in the same room as the defendant affects the way witnesses testify, he added.

Lawyer Jose Herrera, appearing for the victim as parte civile, insisted that she testify remotely. “There is no doubt that the victim has gone through a very traumatic experience and therefore her fear of testifying before her alleged aggressor is justified and could interfere with her testimony.”

Herrera also informed the court that he wished to make it clear that the parte civile  was only requesting the court ban the publication of the victim’s name, “but had no power or desire to hear the case behind closed doors. “]The parte civile] has no interest in protecting the privacy of her aggressor.”

The sitting was adjourned with the case continuing later this month.

Gravina is being assisted by lawyer Matthew Xuereb.

Lawyers Jose Herrera, Alex Scerri Herrera and Martina Herrera are representing the woman as parte civile.

Prosecutor Etienne Savona and Federico Barbaro Sant from the Office of the Attorney General are assisting the police.