Rabat abduction: Lawyers attack credibility of alleged kidnap victim

Luke John Milton’s defence team has questioned the credibility of testimony given by a man allegedly kidnapped, threatened and beaten up by a gang of men in connection with a van he had rented from Christian Borg.

Carlos Schembri testified in the compilation of evidence against Milton earlier today. He had previously also tendered the same testimony in criminal proceedings against Christian Borg, Thorne Mangion, Tyson Grech, Burton Azzopardi and Jeremy Borg, who are charged separately in connection with the incident.

Schembri described Milton as Christian Borg’s “second in command” during his testimony before magistrate Monica Vella.

Prosecuting lawyer Karl Muscat asked the witness whether he had any recollection of past incidents involving the accused, Schembri testified that he had been kidnapped from his place of work around 4 years ago, by Christian Borg and a “foreigner called Alex.” They had taken him to a breakers yard of theirs in Qrendi, where they forcibly restrained him in a chair and forced him to sign bills of exchange. He had been held from 4pm till it was dark, he said.

The men had made him sign bills of exchange for the purchase of a new van after claiming that the van had been stolen, he said. “But they knew where the van was” he added. He later found that the owner of the yard was a man called Pitazz from Birzebbugia, Schembri went on.

“They weren’t as rough with me as they were the last time,” the witness said, saying he “only” suffered bruises. A police report was later filed about this, he confirmed.

They were bills of exchange 300 a month for 5 years, explained the witness. “I signed them, but didn’t use my full signature.”

Schembri told the court that he had worked as a sprayer with Christian Borg at the time and that Borg would deduct €300 from his wages every month.

He worked with No Deposit Cars but his contract was with Princess Garage, he said.

In the meantime he was struck by a garnishee order for some €33,000 on account of the bills of exchange he had been made to sign, he said.

Schembri told the court that he had bought a Mercedes from Milton later on, but found it had been crashed, had dents repaired with hardmetal and that its airbags were deflated, amongst other damages. Luke Milton had signed the bills of exchange for the car, he said.

Milton’s lawyer, Stefano Filletti, cross-examined Schembri at length this afternoon. He confronted the witness with the suggestion that he had previously been fired after stealing car parts from the company’s bonded stores and selling them to a client at a discounted price.

Schembri denied that this was true. “I didn’t do that business. In fact, he took me back in to work with him,” he said.

Filletti confronted the witness with his earlier testimony, where he had detailed how the group had also kidnapped him on a previous occasion. “You said they held you against your will for hours and yet you went back to work with him. Why?” the lawyer asked.

“Only he pays €9 an hour,” Schembri replied.

The defence lawyer asked Schembri to confirm whether he had been kidnapped because he had stolen a van which was later sold to a certain Charlton Magro, but the court intervened, pointing out that Magro hadn’t been mentioned in the examination in chief.

The lawyer changed tack, asking the witness whether he had told his kidnappers that he had scrapped the van for parts and then sold them for €1000. “No,” replied Schembri.

“Did you give them the name of the person to whom you sold the parts?” “No.”

Filletti asked him whether when he had escaped from the van, as he had described, he had gone to a friend’s garage around the corner. The garage belonged to Charlton Magro, Filletti told the court.

“Charlton Magro’s garage is near the Hompesch gate. Is that far enough?” replied the witness cryptically.

After Schembri confirmed that he owned a grey Mercedes, Filletti asked him why No Deposit Cars had filed a police report against him for using number plates stolen from the company.

Schembri said that when he bought the car it had UK plates. Schembri denied any wrongdoing, explaining that he had bought the car from No Deposit Cars in 2016 and that it had later been taken back by the company, but that he had kept the number plates.

The case continues next week.

Inspectors Roderick Attard and Sarah Zerafa prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyers Karl Muscat and Francesco Refalo. Lawyer Matthew Xuereb is also appearing for Milton. Lawyers Shaun Zammit and Edward Gatt are representing the victim in proceedings.