Albert Rosso murder: victim carried handgun after being ‘constantly threatened’

Murder victim Albert Rosso had started carrying a handgun after being “constantly threatened,” a jury trying two men accused of his murder has heard.

Former police officer Toinette Cauchi took the witness stand on Monday as Anthony Bugeja, 55, and 48-year-old Piero Di Bartolo went on trial, accused of murdering Rosso in 2005.

Rosso, 48, from Marsaxlokk, was shot dead in his hometown on October 10 2005, outside a house belonging to Anthony Bugeja, one of the men accused of his murder.

Bugeja, today 55 years old and 48-year-old Piero Di Bartolo, a Sicilian man living in Birżebbuġa, are now on trial, having been indicted over the murder in 2008.

Prosecutors say that Rosso’s killing was connected to a dispute over a fishing vessel owned by Rosso and Bugeja and on which Di Bartolo worked.

Rosso carried a handgun everywhere he went

Cauchi had interviewed a colleague of Rosso’s, who told the policewoman that Rosso had said he was being constantly threatened and had taken to carrying a handgun in a black pouch everywhere he went.

She had last seen him on the morning of 10 October 2005, telling her that he had a dispute that he needed to get rid of. Rosso had told the woman that Anthony Bugeja’s wife had been phoning him up, pestering him about some money.

Another witness, former police inspector Christopher Pullicino told the jury that Rosso’s last known human contact had been a phone call with Bugeja. That was the last phone call to Rosso’s number that was answered, he said.

Investigations had established that the phone call was placed in the Marsaxlokk area and service providers had informed the police that Anthony Bugeja had placed the call.

When the police went to Bugeja’s garage, they noted that the floor had recently been washed with bleach and observed a dent in the garage door that appeared to have been made by a bullet.

Pullicino said that Rosso had been in contact with the police, including the Commissioner of Police at the time as he was being threatened by a group of Sicilian men.

Loose ammunition was found on the steps to the roof in Bugeja’s residence, the witness said, but was unable to recall whether they had been spent cartridges or not. The victim’s van was found to be unlocked but no keys were found inside it.

A police constable had found a bunch of keys belonging to Rosso, but the van’s key was not one of them.

The former police inspector said that the police had received confidential information that Rossa had been murdered inside Bugeja’s garage. Answering a question from defence lawyer Roberto Montalto, Pullicino confirmed that no blood was found there, or anywhere else inside the house.

Rosso claimed to have passed on information about drug trafficking ring

Michael Cassar who had been assistant commissioner of police in 2005 also testified today.

He recounted how Rosso had gone to his office because of the threats he had been receiving. The victim had said that he had been at Porto Palo on his boat when Bugeja informed him that a Sicilian man had warned him not to go there again.

Rosso had claimed to have passed on information to a police officer in Sicily about drug trafficking from Sicily to Malta. He was afraid and suspected that he was being followed, Cassar said, adding that he had informed John Rizzo, the Commissioner of Police of the time about this.

Cassar also told the court that the police investigation had established that Rosso had visited Bugeja’s residence in the hours before his disappearance.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Franco Debono are representing Bugeja, with lawyer Roberto Montaldo appearing for Di Bartolo. Lawyer Stefano Filletti is parte civile.

Lawyers Angele Vella and Andrea Zammit from the Office of the Attorney General are prosecuting.