Bona murder | Prosecution says victim acted in self-defence, firing warning shots

The prosecution in the jury trial of Allan Galea, accused of the willful homicide of Anthony Borg, known as il-Bona, in Marsaxlokk in 2010, has turned the defence’s argument on its head – telling the jury that it was the deceased, Borg, who had been acting in self-defence, and not the man who killed him.

Galea’s defence had previously argued that Borg had fired shots, possibly in the direction of the accused, before throwing the handgun away and attacking the accused, who then stabbed him in the heart. Galea is arguing that the killing was in self-defence, as he had no other option, seeing Borg and his friends charging at him, firing two or three shots.

MORE Reports from the Anthony Borg murder jury

Today however, to incredulous smiles from the defence bench, Dr Lara Lanfranco inverted that argument and said that Borg had indeed fired into the air, in an attempt to scare off the accused, who she said was brandishing a knife at the time, before throwing the gun away and grappling with Galea.

“Anthony Borg went empty-handed to fight the accused,” the prosecution said, a fact borne out by the testimony of forensic expert Dr Mario Scerri. Forensic evidence supported this version, said the prosectuion, because Dr. Marisa Cassar had testified that the accused’s DNA was found under Anthony Borg’s right hand. “This indicates that Borg was unarmed from the moment the two men came into contact.”

“If you find yourselves in a situation where a man armed with a knife is attacking you, would you not defend yourself? This is not a fight. Allan Galea himself told us that he suffered his injuries after the stabbing, not before.”

“He said he delivered the coup de grace because he was scared,” said Lanfranco before pointing out that the victim was incapacitated at that point. The stab wound to the victim’s back was testament to this, said the lawyer. “The accused’s injuries were suffered after the stabbing,” repeated the prosecutor, “and there is no doubt that they were not suffered at the hands of Anthony Borg.”

She argued that the shots had not been fired at the accused, as the defence was implying, but vertically into the air. “Gun shot residue (GSR) only indicates that the person was present when a firearm was discharged, irrespective of whether warning or aimed shots were fired. You cannot conclude that the presence of GSR on Galea’s clothing meant that the shots had been fired in his direction, because particles of GSR can be transferred by casual contact.”

“Anthony Borg was defending himself, not Allan Galea!” the prosecutor shouted, saying that the men came face to face. “He was on the ground, but… ‘let’s stab him to make sure. I’m not a little boy! I will cut you up and eat you!’” the lawyer said, echoing a previous threat attributed to the accused.

Lanfranco argued that the accused had indeed fired warning shots because he could see the accused approaching him with a knife. But he then tossed the weapon aside and grappled with Galea, said the prosecution, pointing to the defensive wounds suffered by the deceased.

“Independently of the fact that Galea was scared of the people who were there, please note that he was not stabbed. Frans Borg punched him and Cassar put him in a stranglehold.”

“This begs the question: If he was so scared and concerned, why didn’t he go to the police station before the incident instead of after?”

The trial resumes tomorrow.

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.