‘Il-Bona’ kidnapped woman who reported him to police, jury told

Defence lawyer defending man accused of stabbing Il-Bona to death says murdered loan shark had beaten and threatened a woman who had reported him to the police before kidnapping her a month later

Defendant Allan Galea. Photo: Ray Attard
Defendant Allan Galea. Photo: Ray Attard

The last person to file a police report against murdered loan shark Anthony Borg, known as il-Bona, had subsequently been kidnapped, beaten and sexually abused by him, the jury trying his killer has been told.

The revelation, made by defence lawyer Joe Giglio, was made all the more startling by the fact that such a clearly relevant issue had not been mentioned previously in the five years since the killing.

Marsaxlokk monti hawker Allan Galea’s trial by jury for the wilful homicide of Borg reconvened yesterday. Borg, a loan shark and local hardman, was stabbed to death in the Marsaxlokk village square in 2010 – that Galea killed Borg is not in doubt, but the bone of contention is whether or not this was a case of lawful self-defence, given that Borg fired a pistol immediately before the fatal stabbing.

On Friday evening, the prosecution inverted Galea's self-defence argument, saying that Borg had fired into the air in an attempt to scare off the accused – allegedly brandishing a knife – before tossing his handgun aside and grappling with Galea.

Yesterday Giglio appealed to the jurors, asking them to imagine themselves in the situation the accused found himself in, having just received a menacing phone call from none other than Borg ‘il-Bona’. “This was not a neighbour complaining about loud music. This is not someone complaining about parking in front of his garage. This is a person who has a reputation.”

One of Borg’s previous victims had gone to the police, Giglio said, highlighting the deceased’s conviction record.

“In Senglea in August 1991, Borg had beaten and threatened a woman from Luqa… He was fined Lm10 for this. Eight days later, on 12 August 1991, the same woman was beaten in Sliema and had her sunglasses smashed." Another Lm10 fine.

“And on 10 September 1991, almost a month after the second beating, this poor woman ended up being kidnapped by Borg, threatened with her life and forced to perform sexually demeaning acts.”

“Of course – report him to the police. It’s an option,” Giglio told the jury. “But what will he do a week later, a month later? This is no schoolyard bully we are talking about, this is ‘il-Bona’. Herein lies the relevance of his reputation.”

But Galea had not taken this option, Giglio pointed out.

“This does not remove the legal excuse [of self-defence]. In the light of these circumstances, he assumed that there was a possibility that he would be surrounded. Did he assume correctly?”

The knife was taken as a precaution, not as part of a plan, Giglio argued. “If I pack an umbrella on a cloudy morning, I hope that it won’t rain but I don’t assume it.”

Giglio said on the day of the murder, Galea’s girlfriend had answered Borg’s phone-call and realising the gravity of the situation, rushed to her brother’s house with her baby, still wearing her pyjamas.

He also said that Paul Borg ‘ix-Xu’, who ran the bar of the PN club from where Borg made the call to Galea, had heard the other side of the conversation and had closed the bar, fearing that someone was about to be killed. “This was no formal dinner invitation from the parish priest,” Giglio said. “And if it was, would you then reply with ‘I’m not a child, I will come there and eat you’?” the lawyer asked, repeating Galea’s retort to Borg on the phone.

“It was impossible to ignore his phone call, because ‘il-Bona’ was going to persist. Did Galea assume incorrectly? This is Allan Galea, who had taken his family out to eat because he earned €100 from the monti,” Giglio said.

The accused’s lip started to tremble at that point, before he briefly began to cry, silently, wiping his tears on his sleeve.

By this measure, Giglio told the jury, “you have no right to find out what the problem is. No right to confront the person harassing you, only succumb to his bullying... because all Borg did was kiss Chihuahuas and parrots,” Giglio said in a tone of disgust, referring to photos exhibited by the prosecution portraying Anthony Borg’s softer side.

“The prosecution have a legal obligation to do what they do but we should not perform somersaults either. The evidence is what it is,” Giglio added.

Giglio then referred to the testimony tendered by Borg’s girlfriend, Claire Magri, who claimed that she hid Borg’s firearm to avoid further injuries. Giglio pointed out that in 2012, and in connection with this very act, Magri had been found guilty of perjury and of tampering with the crime scene.

He turned to the “strong effort” made to justify the versions given by witnesses Frans Borg and Clifton Cassar, inviting the jury to compare the versions they gave in 2012 with those released immediately after their arrest.

The three prosecution witnesses had initially given different accounts of when they had first seen the knife. “Believable versions are different, because of different perceptions,” the lawyer explained. “Nobody is going to tell you the exact same thing. But in spite of this, the prosecution want you to believe [this narrative].”

Giglio said that from the moment that Allan Galea turned the corner into Marsaxlokk square, he saw three people accompanying Borg. “How long do you think this sprint took them? Was the danger sudden, actual and absolute? To accept the prosecution’s argument you must disregard all the evidence of all the experts and accept only the version told by Clifton Cassar, Claire Magri and Frans Borg.”

The defence concludes its final submissions on Monday.

Lawyers Lara Lanfranco and Kristina Debattista 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.