Bona murder | Girlfriend ‘unaware’ of loan shark’s debt collection methods

The girlfriend of the late Antoine ‘Twanny l-Bona’ Borg has told the jury trying the man accused of his murder that she had not been aware of the methods employed by her partner to make his debtors pay up.

The trial by jury of Allan Galea, who is accused of stabbing loan shark Borg to death in the Marsaxlokk village square in 2010 entered its second week today with Borg’s partner of ten years, Claire Magri testifying. Magri had previously been found guilty of perjury in this case – a fact which she readily admitted to today, but later claimed that she had been misunderstood.

The couple had just got back together that week, she said, and they had been very happy. “We were so happy that we got together that Twanny started phoning all our relatives to come down to the club and have a good time with us.”

It was the first time she had ever gone to the PN club, said the witness. She lost sight of Borg at 5:45pm and his brother Frans, who had been outside the PN club with him, had come back inside and asked her to go outside to speak to his brother. “When I went outside, at that moment, I heard shouting from up the road... I saw a person in white T shirt and jeans shouting.”

She told the court that she was not sure what he had been saying, however towards the end of her testimony had testified that the accused had been waving a knife around shouting “ejja ja pufta!” [Come over here fag].

Her partner had told her to get in the van, which was parked near the club. “I opened the door was going to get in the passenger seat. I saw Twanny open the door of the van. Then he walked to the middle of the road and I saw a pistol in his hand. I heard a gunshot. He walked two steps forward, to the church parvis and fired another shot.”

The witness said that the shot had been fired in the air and hadn’t hit anyone.

On the witness stand Magri came under sustained pressure from defence lawyer Giannella De Marco, but remained for the most part composed, emotion creeping in only as she recounted how her partner had cried out “Ahh Alan!” as he was stabbed. “I started screaming ‘No, don’t kill him!’” said the woman in between sobs. “I started telling Twanny ‘speak to me’, but he started foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back and he didn’t speak to me again. I couldn’t believe it.”

After spending some time composing herself, Magri said that the accused had been waving a knife around shouting “ejja ja pufta!” before the fatal stabbing. “When I heard Frans say he had killed his brother, I started screaming for help, ambulance, police. Going towards the church, I saw the gun on the floor.”

She said she had picked it up “to avoid another accident” and that she had handed it to the first person she saw, whom she however did not recognize. Then, said Magri, she had collapsed in a faint and woke up in the polyclinic.

The witness said she had never seen the pistol before, nor had she ever seen Allan or the barman.

She hadn’t told the police about the pistol before because she had been "afraid of bringing the person who had handed her the weapon more trouble."

Cross-examination

De Marco cross-examined, asking the witness about her conviction for perjury. “I admitted that I had picked up the weapon myself and handed it to someone. When I heard that this person ended up in trouble, I had admitted to picking up the weapon. I picked it up because I feared that another person could get hurt with it... I had no idea what was going on at the time.”

It was the first time she had gone to the bar, said the woman. She explained that she had been inside when the confrontation took place. “Who were you with, when Frans came to tell you that Twany wanted to speak with you, inside the bar?” asked De Marco.

The witness couldn’t remember, “perhaps alone.”

The lawyer asked what Frans had wanted to ask her. She said that he never got the chance to say whatever it was, because as soon as she was outside, he heard Frans say: “Allan’s coming and he’s got a knife.”

Magri was asked why she had not mentioned hiding the victim’s handgun and replied that it hadn’t occurred to her to mention it to the police, to tell them that she had taken it away for safety. But neither had she told the police that her partner had fired it, pointed out the lawyer. “I was scared. Scared. Scared of getting myself into trouble.”

De Marco posited that perhaps she had hidden it to protect Antoine Borg, pointing out that she hadn’t hidden the knife, which was left next to Borg’s body. “Would you believe it, I didn’t see it,” said the witness, enunciating her words very deliberately.

De Marco noted that she could not tell her where the weapon came from. The witness said that Galea had walked slowly around the van towards the accused and fired a shot in the air. She hadn’t heard Antoine say a word.

Magri said she did, however, see the accused with a knife. “Are you going to contradict me? I saw it with my own eyes” said the witness.

“Let me tell you who will be contradicting you,” said De Marco. “Claire Magri will be contradicting you,” said the lawyer producing a copy of the woman’s previous testimony, in which she said that he had not heard a phone call, was sitting in the van and that Antoine, Clifton and Frans had all been outside discussing where to go outside. “There was no Frans passing on messages from Twanny,” De Marco said.

“At the time, I saw Twanny, Frans and Clifton heading up the road,” read the lawyer from the woman’s earlier testimony. “I got out of the van and saw someone pulling something out of his shirt.”

“I made a mistake. I didn’t explain myself well. Now I remember better,” protested the witness. “Now you are better coached, you are all saying the same thing,” the lawyer retorted.

De Marco asked whether she was trying to cover up for Frans. “Dottoressa, in all honesty, Frans didn’t touch the accused. I did not see anyone beating Allan Galea.”

Neither had she seen the deceased cock the handgun, remarked the lawyer, “but we were told this by people who don’t have a reason to lie.” 

After this exchange, the witness became increasingly hostile, answering that she had not seen many things she was asked about. “What I saw: I saw Twanny slip. I saw Allan Galea stab Twanny in the back as he fell. Then, from about five paces away, when Twanny was on his back, I saw Allan stab him.”

“Do you know how he used to get money out of debtors?” “I never asked him. It was his profession. It was none of my business how he made people pay.”

The deceased had never abused cocaine in her presence, said the witness. “Did you test him for cocaine?” retorted Magri, pointing at the accused and earning herself a rebuke from the judge for her efforts.

Confronted with the possibility that in order to protect Frans Borg she had initially denied knowledge, under oath, that her partner had been involved in usury, the woman said that she had been misunderstood. “I never said that he was involved in money lending because they aren’t things I would personally know.”

The trial continues.

Lawyers Lara Lanfranco and Kristina Debattista from the Attorney General's Office are leading the prosecution, while lawyer Giannella de Marco, Joe Giglio and Steven Tonna Lowell are defence counsel. Lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Brincat are appearing parte civile for the family of the deceased.

Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi is presiding.