Former prisons official pressured husband of sexual harassment victim to 'reach settlement'

The compilation of evidence in the sexual harassment case field against Clint Axisa, Transport Malta’s Enforcement Director continued on Wednesday, with the court being told that Axisa would speak in double entendres to his female employees, groping the breasts of one, and had later attempted to pressure them into withdrawing their reports.

Axisa, 42, from Fgura, is pleading not guilty to charges of having committed a non-consensual sexual act on one woman by abusing his position as a public official, harassing her and another woman, subjecting them to an act of physical intimacy, making unwelcome advances which could be considered as “offensive, humiliating, degrading or intimidatory,” and committing an offence which he was duty bound to ensure did not take place.

The former Transport Malta Director, who is currently suspended from carrying out his duties due to the case, is also alleged to have tried sending emissaries in a bid to convince one of the victims to drop the charges against him. These messengers included friends of the father of one of the alleged victims.

The sexual harassment case first came to light in a four-page letter sent by independent election candidate Arnold Cassola to Prime Minister Robert Abela last February. In the letter, Cassola had reported a “dirty scandal” and a subsequent cover up as having taken place inside Transport Malta. The cover up was due to Axisa’s close ties to the Labour Party, he claimed.

A number of police officers and Transport Malta employees testified when the compilation of evidence against Axisa continued on Wednesday before magistrate Monica Vella.

The husband of one of the alleged victims, who worked in prison, also gave evidence during the sitting, telling the court that his wife had explained to him how her boss, Axisa, would harass her and had once also touched her breasts.

He also testified to how the accused had “tried everything” to convince her to withdraw her claims and get the case dropped. On one occasion, the former Head of Operations at Corradino Prison, Randolph Spiteri, had called him up, suggesting that it would be better were he to convince his wife to reach an amicable settlement.

Spiteri is no longer at the Corradino Correctional Facility and is now working in another government department.

The witness said he had disagreed and Spiteri, after seeing him on the verge of losing his cool, had told him to give him a call later after he had calmed down, to avoid things escalating.

The first thing the witness did was phone up his wife, he said, explaining that she insisted that she did not want to drop the charges and disagreed with Spiteri’s suggestion. As soon as that call had ended, the witness said, he had called up Spiteri and told him that the charges were not going to be dropped.

The man testified that it was his wife who had informed him about what had happened at the Transport Malta offices, also telling him that she had filed a police report.

He told the court that Axisa had tried to pressure his wife into dropping the charges through another person, who had been her father’s manager at the time and who appeared to be a friend of Axisa.

Transport Malta’s Chief Officer, Corporate Services,  Maryrose Pace took the stand to exhibit a complaint filed by one of her female employees via email. Pace explained that the first step of the procedure for dealing with such complaints was to immediately inform the transport authority’s Chairman, in this case Joseph Bugeja.

The next step was to inform the subject of the allegation, who would then have 15 days to answer for his actions, after which a decision would be taken. Axisa had been sent for and asked to give his account and views on the matter. 

The court was told that although there were two alleged victims in this case, it had only one of them give her account, as the other victim was described as vulnerable. One of the women had since left the agency, with the other still working at Transport Malta.

Officers from the Police Vice Squad testified to having questioned a certain Anthony Ellul, who knew the father of one of the victims. Ellul had informed him that he had been approached by the accused about the incident. “Look at what your daughter has done to me,” Axisa allegedly told him, “she went to report me for using double entendres and using sexual connotations, and this after I had stood up for her when she had stolen some money.” The father was also warned to make sure he had evidence to back up his daughter’s police report.

It also emerged that Axisa’s wife had also got involved in the matter, phoning up the alleged victim and telling her not to get her husband in trouble and insisting that “I know what a husband I have.”  

The court was told how Vice Squad officers had investigated the background of one the alleged victims, and had discovered that one of them was not shy. A security guard and a woman who both worked with the accused had told the police that they had never seen him acting inappropriately and that he was a trustworthy man, he said. 

It was alleged that one of the victims had a dirty sense of humour and would “bare her legs and raise her skirt” in the office “because she liked to joke.” 

On February 22, Axisa had called a meeting of Transport Malta’s staff, during which he had explained what had happened and that he had been reported for sexual harassment.

One of Axisa’s other female staff members had told the police that he would use double entendres when speaking to her and say things that were out of place, but added that she had never thought of reporting him. Another female co-worker threw shade on one of the alleged victims, telling the police that she had asked to be moved to a different office because she was uncomfortable working with her, although she stressed that she had “nothing against her or the accused,” who she described as an “OK guy.”

Axisa is denying the harassment claims and the prosecution’s accusations of having suborned between eight and ten potential witnesses in this case, dictating to them how they should testify, after the case was reported in the media. 

His lawyer also told the court that Axisa was denying ever offering money to witnesses in exchange for their silence. 

Axisa had been released on bail against a €10,000 deposit and €30,000 personal guarantee.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Herman Mula are representing Axisa in the proceedings.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri are appearing for one of the alleged victims.

Both alleged victims are expected to testify in the next sitting, scheduled for July. 

Inspectors Joseph Busuttil and Paul Camilleri are prosecuting.