Qbajjar murder jury | Prosecution insists that victim’s son had beaten up the accused after father's murder

The jury trying Gerald Galea for murder had heard prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General argue that the accused pensioner’s beating had occurred after the man had run over kiosk owner John Spiteri, at the hands of Spiteri’s son, Matthew, who "was defending himself."

Galea, 67, from Marsalforn, Gozo is accused of the murder of 54 year-old John Spiteri and the attempted murder of his son, Matthew in June 2013. The victim and his son had been trimming a tree in the Qbajjar car park to set up their kiosk when an argument broke out with the accused.  The prosecution is alleging that Galea drove around the parking area a number of times, taunting the men, before running Spiteri over. The defence is claiming that Galea, who suffered a number of injuries in the incident, had been trying to flee the area after being set upon by the two men.

“We as the AG believe that Gerald Galea is guilty of the wilful homicide of John Spiteri and the attempted wilful homicide of his son,” began lawyer Giannella Busuttil.

The central issue of the trial is not whether Spiteri was killed by Galea's car, or that Galea was savagely beaten up - there is comprehensive medical evidence of this - but whether the beating happened before or after Spiteri was fatally run over.

Busuttil argued that the accused had never told previous courts that his actions had been provoked by a grievous injury - an excuse at law which would at least merit an attenuation in punishment. She argued that his grievous injuries had been suffered “in the totality of the incident” and did not mean that they had preceded the killing.

Pointing to the fact that Spiteri’s son had testified to seeing a trickle of blood on his father’s face before he was run over, the prosecution suggested that the accused had punched first. “This was not provoked by Spiteri, rather it was a result of provocation by Gerald Galea.”

“Not every punch causes grievous injuries. All we know is that Galea suffered grievous injuries after the whole scenario played out.”

She rebuked Galea’s defence for attempting to question the son’s credibility. “They seem to be saying that nobody died...You should be ashamed of making this argument,” shouted the lawyer.

Motive on the part of the accused was not important to find guilt, argued the lawyer, the only thing that mattered was intent. Matthew Spiteri has “no interest” in lying, said Busuttil arguing that this had been demonstrated by the consistency in his testimony.

The accused has “no defence other than throwing mud, attacking everything and everyone,” said the prosecutor, pointing to objections to the wording of the bill of indictment, the fact that an accident reconstruction expert had not been appointed and claiming that no comparative analysis of blood had been carried out. The police had enough proof to press charges and so they did, argued the prosecution.

The defence had emphasised that John Spiteri was a big man, she said, “but if this man who was so strong had been punching him like there was no tomorrow, we would be having a jury for John Spiteri murdering Gerald Galea.”

Medico-legal expert Dr. Mario Scerri had said that the deceased punched Galea once and it wasn’t the hardest blow, she said, asserting that the other three blows had been delivered by his son after the man had killed his father. “And who can blame him?” she asked, pointing out that Galea had been released from hospital the day after the incident.

The defence seemed to be trying to say that the car was driving itself, said Busuttil. “Gerald Galea was driving after the man with the intention of killing him.” The victim had been running for his life when he had been deliberately run over by the accused, she said.

“Nobody can blame the victim and his son for being angry and punching Gerald Galea once or a number of times,” Busuttil began the prosecution’s final submissions earlier today.

The prosecutor dedicated most of the morning to an analysis of Matthew Spiteri’s testimony, which she said, had been corroborated by other witnesses and court experts.

Spiteri had testified that it had been Galea who had approached the father and son, while driving his Daihatsu Terios, speaking to them aggressively and threatening to stop them from setting up there again.

The argument escalated when Matthew Spiteri had gone to take down the number plate, he had heard raised voices and seen his father throwing a punch at Galea. He had seen his father’s lip to be cut and bleeding. The prosecution argued that the finding of traces of the victim’s blood on the driver side door lended credibility to this version.

“We remember when we got punched, but we can’t remember where we punched,” observed Busuttil.

Matthew Spiteri said that his father had moved away and rested against the back of his truck, at which point Galea, after revving the engine, reversed the car and drove around the car park twice shouting “We’ll see, Giann!” Witnesses had heard tyres screeching and engine revving, the lawyer pointed out.

Galea had eventually maneuvered the car in between the parked truck and the low wall and onto John Spiteri, she said. This had been corroborated by technical experts and an architect, as well as an eyewitness, she said.

“In this case, the defence seems to be trying to blame Spiteri for tripping up with a car being driven at him.” The defence was arguing the impossible, she said.

Prosecution insists that victim’s son had beaten up the accused after the murder

The prosecution is suggesting that the blows suffered by the accused had been inflicted by Matthew Spiteri, not the victim. “You must put yourselves in the shoes of a young man who has just seen his father crushed by a vehicle driven by the accused. Nobody can blame him for being angry and in the heat of the moment he was possessed by superhuman strength.”

Busuttil referred to the report by medical expert Dr. Mario Scerri, who had said that the violent blow, which fractured the accused’s eye socket, would cause him to close his eye. “But at what point was he punched in the eye?...The prosecution believes that it had been precisely at that moment that Matthew Spiteri had punched him in the eye and the pain had caused Galea to lose control of the vehicle and crash.”

She pointed to the accused’s statement to the police at the time of the accident, in which he clearly indicated the position of the victim and his son in relation to the car during the incident. “This means he could see clearly before he ran over John Spiteri.”

Before wrapping up the prosecution's submissions, Busuttil gave jurors an overview of the elements of the excusable and justifiable homicide, as well as the concept of legitimate self defence, in context of the facts in this case. She called for justice with Spiteri's surviving family, in particular his son. "Death is ugly, separation is horrible, but how much worse is it for the trauma suffered by Matthew Spiteri who saw his father being crushed to death."

The defence, which always has the last word in trials by jury, is expected to reply to the Attorney General’s submissions tomorrow.

After that, judge Antonio Mizzi will sum up the evidence and arguments made for the benefit of the jurors, before they retire to deliberate on the guilt or otherwise of the accused.

Lawyers Giannella Busuttil and Kevin Valletta from the Office of the Attorney General are prosecuting. Galea is being defended by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jason Azzopardi. Lawyer Joe Giglio is representing the Spiteri family in parte civile.