Blade used in 2010 Hal Far murder not found, jury told

Jurors trying Fodie Keita for the murder of a fellow migrant have heard the farmer who employed him explain that he had let Keita go because the deceased was better at his job, and because he was worried about the accused taking an interest in his daughters.

This emerged as jurors began to hear evidence in the murder trial of Ivorian Keita, 40, who is accused of the murder of 30-year-old Adame Diabate from Mali in 2010.

He is also accused of hiding Diabate’s body and stealing his mobile phone.

The farmer who had employed the two men said he had preferred the victim because he was very good at his job and also because the didn’t like the fact that the accused was flirting with his two daughters - aged 17 and 18 at the time.

He stressed however that the accused had never done anything wrong and had only dismissed him “to remove the danger.”

The day of the murder, he was supposed to pick up Diabate from a bus stop, but the man had missed his 7 am pickup so he had asked his wife to call the man, as the farmer did not speak English.

The person who answered the phone told her that Diabate had gone to Sicily.

He explained that Diabate had never mentioned any wish to go to Italy and was happy in Malta, earning €35 a day. The farmer said he only found out what happened when the police called him in for questioning.

A detention centre official who had been stationed at Hal Far at the time also testified today, describing how he had been approached by four residents at the facility who informed him that they had found a dead body under a tree.

He had gone to the place they were indicating and found a man, buried under a carob tree, with part of his foot protruding from the soil. “His face was covered in dust and his mouth was open,” he said. The official had then immediately called the police.

The victim’s uncle Camara Banjoukou, also testified, explaining that he had been living in Malta since 2008. The uncle had also been working with a different farmer, who had sent for his nephew on occasion, to replace him.

Banjoukou told the jury that he believed that Keita had been angry at his nephew because the farmer had started asking only for Diabate and not Keita. He had not been at work on the day the victim’s body was found, he said, but had found out through the grapevine.

Banjoukou insisted that he had called his nephew on the phone, but that he hadn’t answered. The man insisted that he had never seen the victim arguing with the accused, even though they were no longer on speaking terms with Keita towards the end.

Sworn testimony of three other migrants, as delivered to the Court of Magistrates, was read out to the jury.

One, the accused’s roommate, had seen blood on the ground on the day of the murder and thought it belonged to an animal that had been hit by a car. He hadn’t seen the accused in his bed that day.

The witness had been walking in the street, when he heard a noise from behind a tree and someone telling him to keep on moving. At first, he said, he had thought it was a couple enjoying a romantic moment and so he had complied.

The voice that spoke to him was in the Malian Bambaram language and the voice could have belonged to three people, the first of whom was the accused, he said.

The accused listened with furrowed brow as a number of scene of crime officers and police first responders testified today. Jurors were also shown photographs of the body of the deceased, from the place where he was found, to the autopsy table. Signs of extreme violence and defensive wounds were clearly visible on the corpse.

The body was found in the foetal position, buried head-down in a hole around 3ft deep. A bag containing clothes and personal effects was found near the body.

Some jurors covered their mouths as the victim’s face was shown, unrecognizable and covered in soil and debris.

A knife hilt with the initials K and F etched on the sides, was found buried deeper, near the body. The blade was never found, the court was told. A bloodstained iron bar also found nearby.

The trial continues.