Updated | Bona murder: defendant says loan shark shot at him

The jury trying Allan Galea for the murder of Anthony Borg, known as il-Bona, have been played a recording of the accused being questioned by police, in which he expresses regret at causing Borg’s death.

Galea, a 36-year-old monti hawker from Marsaxlokk, is accused of the murder of Anthony “Twanny” Borg, known as il-Bona. Borg died in February 2010 after being stabbed three times in a Marsaxlokk square following an argument with the accused. Gunshots had also been heard before the stabbing.

“Of course I regret it. I’m not that type of person,” Galea was heard saying, towards the end of the approximately hour-long recording.

The jury was played a tape of Galea’s interrogation conducted by Police Inspectors Vince Pullicino, Joseph Mercieca and Priscilla Caruana. In the interrogation, which took place the day after the murder at 945pm, Galea denied fighting with the victim, saying they “might have been joking around.”

“As I took down my monti stall, I decided to spend an hour at the club. I took three glasses of wine. I wanted to spend time with my daughter. My girlfriend called me and asked me to bring beer. I left after an hour. Whilst I was playing with my daughter, for some reason, he called me up and started shouting and swearing, saying ‘I’m here’. I went down to talk to him.”

He could not say what the reason for the phone call was. “I took a knife with me because there were going to be many people. Self-defence.” He said the people had been at the club since the morning.

A second phone-call was answered by his girlfriend, who was insulted by the victim. The accused decided to go have a word with Borg, he said. “I thought he wanted to talk to me, but he fired two shots at me.”

“I walked to Marsaxlokk. When he saw me, he fired two shots at me. I hid myself next to a parked car. Somehow we ended up face to face. I pushed him and struck him with the knife... maybe on his shoulder. Then I stabbed him in the back.”

“I was afraid, so I pushed him away with the knife. He didn’t go away, so I gave him another blow on his back. The onlookers closed in and held me back. They beat me. I decided to make a run for it and I did.”

Someone had hit him with something from behind, he said, as he went to find the police. He found the police station to be closed so he flagged down a passing police car.

Asked about the argument, he replied: “to me there weren’t any arguments.”

He said he took the knife with him to protect himself should he find himself to be surrounded, because he knew “what kind of people they are.” He repeatedly insisted that he didn’t go there to pick a fight, but the victim had fired shots in his direction. “At me, he fired them at me,” he told the police interrogator.

On the recording, the accused can be heard denying telling police that he had threatened to “cut up” the victim.

“I didn’t go there prepared for fighting,” he is heard insisting. “I pushed him with the knife.”

He did not know what happened to the knife and neither could he explain to the police why he stabbed the victim a second time, in the back. “I never had any trouble with Bona. I know that he was a loan shark but I had never seen him handling a weapon. I never knew he would do this, I had never seen him fire a weapon before.”

Earlier this afternoon, Inspector Joseph Mercieca from Police CID testified that he had been alerted to a fight in Marsaxlokk. Whilst on his way to the scene he was informed that one person had been killed and had been identified as Anthony Borg.

He said that at the scene he had encountered Clifton Cassar and the accused’s brother Frans. They told him that they had been drinking at the PN club and had been there since 2:30pm.

“Clifton Cassar was giving the most credible version,” said Inspector Mercieca. “He said that whilst they were drinking, Borg’s mobile started ringing and that Borg had argued loudly with the caller. He ran out of the club and took a right up the road. At the top of the road Cassar saw a person shouting ‘come on, come on’. When he was around 30m away, the person fired two shots in the air. As they closed to a distance of around five metres from Anthony Borg, they recognised Allan Galea as he used to have a stall at the market.”

The two men had scuffled and Borg fell to the ground. Galea then leapt on the fallen man, said the Inspector. Francis Borg struggled with the accused, punching him in the face, but Galea had escaped.

The inspector explained that scene-of-crime officers had only discovered that shots had been fired when they moved the body and found a spent cartridge underneath him. More spent cartridges were discovered in a dragnet search of the area.

Inspector Mercieca was informed that the firearm was being kept at a bar owned by Francis Borg. Around three weeks before, a small argument had occurred between the victim and the accused at the same bar.

Francis Borg was questioned about the whereabouts of the weapon, which was eventually handed over to police. The firearm was a Lorcin, a small weapon, the inspector recalled.

Borg told the police that he had seen with his own eyes, the accused stabbing his brother. He said that his brother had gone to speak to the accused, after the invitation to fight.

Answering a question from prosecution lawyer Kristina Debattista, the witness said that the firearm was picked up by Pierre Magri and handed to Paul Borg. It was recovered by the police the next day.

During his interrogation, the accused had told inspector Pullicino that he had intended to arm himself with a harpoon but had swapped it for a knife at the last minute. A matching set of knives was recovered from the accused’s home, added the inspector.

The witness explained that phone calls were received by Borg whilst he was inside the bar and had been overheard by family members and the barman.

The trial resumes tomorrow.

In her opening address in Galea’s trial for murder, a prosecutor from the office of the Attorney General warned jurors not to allow their judgment to be clouded by the victim’s shady character. “You will likely hear unsavoury things about the victim, his character and deeds,” warned prosecutor Lara Lanfranco, “but I remind you that Allan Galea is on trial here... We are not living in a jungle and this is why we have laws, police and the courts,” she added.

Lanfranco explained the elements of the crime of wilful homicide and invited the jury to consider the facts.

“On the 21 February 2010 at around 6:30pm, the police received a report about a man being stabbed to death in Marsaxlokk square. The victim, Anthony Borg, 39, was murdered in the presence of friends and relatives, who included his brother Frans, his niece’s boyfriend and his then girlfriend.”

Standing in the dock, the accused closed his eyes as the prosecutor recounted the fatal stabbing.

“Borg cried out in pain and walked to the road where he collapsed, face up. The accused then walked up to Borg and stabbed him in the chest.” Borg died at the scene.

Family members who had seen Borg’s murder take place had reacted with a mixture of anger and shock, explained Lanfranco. The victim’s brother punched the accused several times, but Galea somehow managed to slip away from the scene.

He was arrested some time later. Refusing to consult a lawyer, Galea insisted on being questioned by Inspector Chris Pullicino at the police headquarters.

He told Pullicino that Borg had called him up and invited him to fight. Galea had replied that he was not a child and would “cut him up.” Picking up a knife from his house, the accused went to meet the victim. He confirmed that he had stabbed the accused and had escaped from the victim’s family members.

Lawyers Giannella Caruana Curran, Stephen Tonna Lowell and Joe Giglio are appearing as defence counsel to the accused whilst lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Brincat are appearing parte civile.

Prosecuting on behalf of the office of the Attorney General are lawyers Lara Lanfranco and Kristina Debattista.