Man accused of cocaine-fuelled pistol-whipping offered victim €5,000 for false testimony, court told

Police will be pressing further charges against a man accused in connection with an assault with a pistol, after the victim told a court this morning that the defendant had offered him €5,000 to give false testimony after being arrested. 

This emerged as Magistrate Elaine Mercieca continued to hear evidence against 34-year-old Ian Zammit from Żejtun on Monday. 

Zammit, who goes by the nickname Is-Sugar, is accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm with a weapon, cocaine possession, recidivism and breaching two sets of bail conditions.

The magistrate noted that the victim of the assault had been stopped from giving his testimony during the previous sitting because it could give rise to possible criminal action against him.

Lawyer George Camilleri, appearing for the victim, told the court that his client wished to testify, regardless. “He intends to testify truthfully, whatever the consequences may be, but I also asked the prosecution whether there was any intention to charge him and I was told that there wasn’t.”

With that, the man took the witness stand. The victim had been supposed to tender his evidence from another room through a video link, but technical problems meant he had to testify in the courtroom, a few metres away from the defendant. The man’s fear was evident from his demeanour on the witness stand, his often gabbled testimony difficult to understand.

“Basically, I met is-Sugar, I don’t remember the date…three weeks ago. I called him up to go smoke together.”

“Smoke what, sir?” Asked the court.

“Coke,” the man replied.

At that point, the magistrate once again warned the witness that he could face criminal charges because possession of the drug is a crime.  He opted to continue.

He would often pick up Zammit and give him lifts to various locations, he said. “He had an apartment in Tarxien, his ex lived in Qormi. It was always night time when I met is-Sugar.” They would freebase cocaine in both Tarxien and Qormi, said the victim.

On the night in question, the defendant had bought the cocaine from ‘some Italians,’ he said.

“Zammit took too much and started accusing his girlfriend of stealing 60g of coke….He put the gun against my head and I , pardon the expression, I pissed myself.”

Then Zammit hit him in the jaw with the pistol. 

A brawl in which a number of other men were also involved then broke out, he said. 

“After knocking the firearm out of Zammit’s hands, I pulled his legs out from under him. At the last moment he managed to pick up the gun again and hit me in the face with it. That’s why my teeth are broken.”

The witness described the handgun as being on the small side, saying that Zammit had claimed to have bought it “because someone had stolen €16,000 from him.” The witness didn’t ask where he had bought the firearm from, he added.

After being pistol whipped, the witness had left the apartment.

“I had to get in my car, I pushed Ian Zammit out [of the car]. I drove away with him still hanging onto the car door.”

While driving back home in Żebbug, he said, he had received a chilling phone call from the defendant. 

“I was driving towards Żebbug from Qormi and I decided to answer the phone. Then he threatened my children. He can threaten me all he wants but not my children. They’re just five and four years old.”

“‘Those two kids of yours, I hope they get cancer. I will kill them,’ he said.”

The witness said he had been treated in hospital, requiring stitches to his chin and lip, and suffering some broken teeth. “I still can’t even eat a piece of bread,” he told the court today.

After the man drove off, Zammit had then laid siege to his phone, he said. “He called me around 70 times.” “How did you get rid of him?” asked prosecutor Ramon Bonnett Sladden.

“I didn’t,” replied the man. “If I spent seven hours in the hospital, he never stopped calling me, even during my surgery.”

Victim says he was offered €5000 and paid dental treatment to mislead the court

Now speaking in near-unintelligible staccato bursts, the victim said that he had been offered thousands of euros to give false evidence before today’s sitting. “I received a phone call from a number originating from prison, they offered €2,500 for me to say that I don’t know Zammit and was coked up and that I couldn’t remember what happened.”

He added that he had later received a second call from prison. “They promised me €5000 and to pay for my dental work.”

He told the court that the first call had started off with someone who did not identify himself, telling him that Ian Zammit wanted to speak to him.

Cross-examined by lawyer Francesca Zarb, the man refuted her suggestion that he had requested €5,000 from two women connected to the defendant. “They offered it to me,” he insisted.

The lawyer pointed to recordings of the phone conversation, which appeared to show him agreeing to the proposal. The man replied that he had simply played along, having already gone to the police. “Did you ever tell her that it was a joke?” asked the lawyer. “Ma tarax!” he said, denying having done so.

Re-examined by Bonnett Sladden, the witness confirmed that it had been Zammit who had offered him the money first.

Answering a question from parte civile lawyer George Camilleri, he clarified that the offer of payment hadn’t come from the woman, but from the defendant.

“She didn’t offer me money . When I was in the car with her, Sugar called her and she told me to listen to what he wanted to say.”

The prosecution informed the court that its second witness, another alleged victim of insults and threats, was unable to attend today’s sitting. 

Lawyer Franco Debono said that the defence would be making submissions on bail during the next sitting, in view of this fact.

Inspector James Malia informed the court that in view of today’s testimony, the defendant would also be re-arrested and charged with attempting to suborn the witness.

The sitting was adjourned to Wednesday.

Police inspectors James Malia and Doriette Cuschieri are prosecuting, together with lawyer Ramon Bonnett Sladden from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb were defence counsel.

Lawyer George Camilleri appeared parte civile for the victim.