Murderer back in the dock, police tells court: ‘We’re not immune to threats’

The head of the police CID Homicide Squad has testified that the elevated exposure to threats against life in his line of work had not rendered him immune to concern.

Inspector Keith Arnaud was in the witness stand this morning in proceedings against Nizar El Gadi, a Libyan man who is currently serving a life sentence, having been convicted of murdering his wife, lawyer Margaret Mifsud. El Gadi was back in court today, accused of having threatened police Inspector Keith Arnaud and members of Mifsud's family in court. 

On the day of his murder conviction, while El Gadi was being escorted out of the courtroom to begin serving his life sentence, he had made a hand gesture pretending to shoot the Inspector and the mother of the victim. 

Inspector Arnaud took to the witness stand this morning, exhibiting CCTV stills taken from inside the courtroom which showed El Gadi making the gesture.

El Gadi's lawyer, Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani, asked the Inspector whether he had somehow felt frightened or threatened by the hand gesture by El Gadi. 

The inspector replied that the feeling of being threatened had not been instantaneous, but he had later feared for his family's safety, knowing that prison inmates can still have contact with persons on the outside.

“He may have contacts outside prison and he killed an innocent woman, so I believe he is capable of many things,” Inspector Arnaud added, denying a suggestion that he had somehow provoked El Gadi. 

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee was asked to testify and exhibit El Gadi's statement made to the police after the incident. The Libyan had explained that he had been shocked by the severity of the sentence he had just received. Describing himself as feeling "very confused," in particular upon seeing the Mifsud family applauding the sentence - he had just wanted to go away. 

As he was being led away, the mother of the victim had asked whether the accused was content, now that he was going to stay in Malta and this had been alleged to have led to the gesture. However, it was pointed out that the CCTV recording showed that El Gadi had made the gesture after the commotion in court had already calmed down.  

“The way things happened, the mother’s comment was not to provoke El Gadi, but because she was in pain,” the prosecution argued, calling on the court to impose the maximum penalty for relapsing.

Lawyer Kathleen Grima, representing the Mifsud family, argued that whatever happened in the hall could not justify the gesture. Mifsud was genuinely worried after the threat had been made, not least because the family had already experienced murder.

However, presiding magistrate Joe Mifsud noted that the prosecution had not requested a protection order. “If the family feels so threatened, their lawyers should have called for a protection order,” the magistrate observed.

For the defence, Testaferrata Moroni Viani submitted that the accusations against El Gadi were contradictory. “At one point the prosecution claims El Gadi was provoked and a moment later they say he was not,” the lawyer argued. 

He insisted that the victim's mother had passed a comment while in the hall, which had provoked the accused. The homicide squad inspector "should be accustomed to receiving threats," in his line of work, the Testaferrata Moroni Viani observed.

Arnaud replied that he was "not immune" to these threats.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud put the case off for sentencing, adding however that when it came to offences against police officers, he tended to impose the maximum punishment at law. 

The accused will be sentenced on 15 April.