Bona murder | 'Do justice' by murder suspect, defence counsel tells jury

Mr. Justice Antonio Mizzi has begun delivering his final address to the jurors trying Marsaxlokk man Allan Galea. Galea stands accused of the willful homicide of loan shark Anthony Borg il-Bona, whom he had stabbed to death in the Marsaxlokk village square in 2010. 

These are the closing stages of the Galea’s trial - after the judge finishes his address, the jurors will retire to deliberate and eventually reach a verdict.

This morning, lawyer Joe Giglio delivered an impassioned final address to the jury, asking them to “apply the subjective test” and place themselves in the shoes of the accused.

The threat faced by Galea when he had received a call from Borg was grave, unjust and inevitable threat and Galea’s subsequent actions had been performed in self defence, the jury trying him for the murder has been told.

“What did the accused, see, think, feel... what led him to hide behind the car?” Giglio said of the sight of Borg and two friends bearing down on him, after shots had been fired.

“Was the accused faced by unjust aggression? They might have thought that they were justified, because in ‘Bona Power land’ this is how things work. But was it? Did the accused feel his life was in danger, when he saw the man shooting?”

Of the unresolved issue of whether or not the shots which had been fired had been of the warning or aimed variety, Giglio described the issue as being “almost irrelevant.”

By that stage, it was too late and there was no turning back, the lawyer explained.

When the two men came face to face, something happened, Giglio went on, pointing out that forensic expert Mario Scerri had identified injuries compatible with a head-butt having been delivered by the victim.

“Where was the last place the accused saw the gun?” the lawyer said, referring to the shots. “Can any one of you say in your good sense that in those last few metres the deceased was not trying to kill him? And let us not forget the other two men following right behind him.”

He pointed to the testimony which the court had heard from the two major witnesses who had not been convicted of perjury.

“What is the gist of their testimonies? The gist is that one witness from the PN club and one from the accused’s home had reached the conclusion that Twanny Borg was in the state he was in and that the aggression and determination of Borg was increasing as the seconds passed.”

Galea’s “I will eat you” reaction, his concealing of a knife under his clothing as a precaution and his eventual stabbing of the victim had all been justified, he argued, because there was no chance that the threat to his life would stop there.

“You should not go as a lamb to the slaughter, because that man will continue to hurt you. A schoolboy or girl, when confronting a bully will be scared, but will want to give the message that although I am scared, I will not be cowed...This was a hundred million times more serious. He was called up by Bona Power...”

“What does he want? I’m playing with my daughter, cleaning the dog’s mess, planning to go out with my wife. Can I leave it for another day with this guy? I can’t and this is borne out by the evidence because he didn’t stop calling him up. Do you not think that in the words “I will eat you” there is no fear? It is the same fear as that of the schoolboy. Forget trying to get out of Bona’s sights. Forget it.”

He had only been going to speak to Borg, Giglio said, “but then in Triq iz-Zejtun things took a turn for the unexpected” when Borg started shooting.


“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, understand what these dramatic moments were like. Now our country is calling upon you to do justice by this man. This is your duty.”

Giglio proposed that, on the balance of probability  - the level of conviction required for the jury to acquit Galea, in that fateful moment in Triq iz-Zejtun, Galea had acted in legitimate self defence because of a grave, unjust and inevitable threat to his life.

The jury will retire to deliberate after Mr. Justice Antonio Mizzi completes his summing up of the relevant aspects of the case, an exercise that is expected to take up till tomorrow afternoon at least.