Senior GRTU officials tight-lipped over witness’s allegations of ‘influence’

Two senior GRTU members who featured in the SMSes presented during the compilation of evidence against Sandro Chetcuti, charged with the grievous bodily harm of GRTU director Vince Farrugia, have declined to comment on an attempt at influencing an eyewitness's testimony to the courts.

GRTU employee Sylvia Gauci told the court on Monday that she had lied under oath when she told police and then the court that she saw Chetcuti tell Vince Farrugia he wanted to kill him.

Contacted by MaltaToday, both GRTU president Paul Abela and deputy president Philip Fenech declined to comment on Gauci's testimony that GRTU employees were gathered shortly after the assault on Farrugia and instructed on what to tell police interrogators.

Both Abela and Fenech maintained that since the case is sub judice, they had no comment to make.

On Monday, Gauci changed her version of events when she was testifying in court for the second time during the compilation of evidence against former GRTU official Sandro Chetcuti, charged with the assault on GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia of 11 March 2010.

Gauci, who was present at the GRTU offices when Farrugia was assaulted by Chetcuti, said she "did not want to lie to the court", and testified that before going to the police station, the employees at GRTU were gathered and instructed on what they should tell police officers under interrogation.

She alleged that Abela and Fenech were also in the meeting during which employees were instructed on what they should tell police officers.

Gauci also confirmed an SMS presented in court which shows she was instructed by Vince Farrugia to tell police that Chetcuti wanted to "kill" him during the assault, confirming the contents of the 19 March SMS:

"Re Wednesday, when you came in you saw him looking vicious and ready to butt my head with his. Your eyes' message which I read was 'watch it' and your eyes showed terror. That's what I'll say. And as he hit me you heard him say repeatedly 'noqtlok, noqtlok' (I'll kill you...) That's the truth. I wake up in the night hearing those words in his hoarse voice laud [sic] in my eyes. We must all hammer this point."

"I saw Vince Farrugia on the floor... and Sandro Chetcuti was at the back [of the boardroom]. I didn't see him hitting Vince," Gauci told the court Monday, confirming that she had not witnessed the assault itself.

Chetcuti was originally charged with attempted murder before the prosecution downgraded the gravity of the accusations to GBH.

However the GRTU officials implicated by Gauci as being involved in the meeting during which employees were allegedly instructed as to what they should tell police officers during interrogation remained tight-lipped.

"It is ethically incorrect of you to be asking me questions given how I am a leading witness in the case," Paul Abela told MaltaToday.

Pressed by MaltaToday to confirm Gauci's allegations that GRTU employees were instructed on what they would tell police when interrogated following the attack, Abela insisted that the case is sub judice: "I will make my statement in court."

Similarly, Fenech refused to comment on Gauci's testimony in court, insisting that the case is still being heard in court. "The case is sub judice. No comments to be made," Fenech said.