Updated | Brothers of the accused confirm alibi

The prosecution failed to present sound evidence against David Zerafa, accused of murdering Gozitan lawyer Michael Grech, the defence said.

Defence Counsel Dr Malcom Mifsud argued that the investigations in the murder of Grech was rushed and peppered with misgivings.

Mifsud argued that from the very start the police did not list gunshot residue samples off the people they investigated although this is standard procedure in gun shot incidents.

Neither were any fingerprints taken from the scene compared with those of any suspects. "Fingerprint comparison is the ABC of any investigation he held," he said.

"Another failure of the investigators related to the blood found in the vehicle of a certain Emanuel Micallef. Micallef was also a suspect in the case but the blood results were not followed up. The police also gave importance to the finding of an axe in a room at Ramla L-Hamra. However the police never searched the residence of the accused and the axe is not related to the Marsalforn murder," Dr Mifsud said.

The defence continued that the anonymous phone call received by the police does not constitute proof and the police receive a myriad of anonymous calls which normally result in nothing.

Dr Mifsud attacked the proceedings of the inquiring Magistrate who allowed these misgivings. The identity parade was allowed to happen without the consent of the accused. The same parade included three men with blue eyes, when the description of the aggressor clearly said brown almond shaped eyes.

If the accused wanted to hit at the Gozitan lawyer why did he collect the victim's papers which were being blown about with the wind, the defence demanded.

Wearing dark jeans and a grey jacket and lying back in his chair the accused followed the defence submissions.

"I could not cross examine one of the informants as he died from an overdose in prison", Dr Mifsud said. He asked the jurors whether they think it was weird how the accused confided in two of five fellow inmates who he had never met before.

The defence added that evidence given by Rodney Vella was public knowledge, with most of the details appearing in a local newspaper two days after the murder.

"If the accused feared that his alleged accomplice would talk, then why would he tell others that he murdered Dr Grech? Why would Zerafa plan on murdering Pawlu il-Hikka when he himself blabbered about the incident?"

The prosecution is basing the case of hearsay evidence, the defence said. "The witnesses are saying what the accused allegedly told them. The recordings of the confrontation held between Rodney Vella and Zerafa are misinterpreted. The accused admitted that he insulted the lawyer. This is not proof that the rest of what Rodney alleged is true."

Using information from the papers and information from small talk between two prison inmates reached the police, the defence added.

"They knew Zerafa had a room at Ramla so they added flavour to the story. The police also went to great lengths to ensure that the accused confirms that he spoke to the other inmates. However the accused admitted to talking about the murder with Vella and Spiteri.  David Zerafa never admitted with the police to killing the lawyer," the lawyer said.

Dr Mifsud pleaded with the jurors to re-listen the tapes of the investigations and analyse how the investigators twist words to suit their needs.

From the back of the court room the victim's widow and children listened attentively to the defence consul as he argued how the accused feared his fellow inmates.

"It doesn't take alot to understand why the accused never filed a report against the men who shared a 7x7 room with him", but witnesses confirmed that their actions towards him bothered him."

The defence claimed that both Maria Scicluna and Deborah Grech gave the impression that the victim's widow believed that the person she saw outside her apartment was Maria's brother Steve.

Dr Mifsud stated that one should not simply rely on an individual's memory to convict a person. He also held that foreign courts do not take identification based on memory as solid evidence. A person's memory could be easily effected by what the witness would be going through at the time, he said.

While eyes are used as a means of identification in biometric passports, Maria Grech had no scientific means of comparing the eyes she saw outside her door with those of David Zerafa, the defence said.

In addition, the prosecution did not ask the victim's widow to identify the aggressor in the court room. "This is the most basic question in any court of law", he said.

The best evidence Maria Grech could give was to identify Zerafa as the aggressor. Not only did the defence not ask this of the witness but they simply asked her to confirm what she had done during the identity parade.

The accused totally denies committing this murder. Dr Mifsud asked the jurors if it is credible that on the first night Rodney Vella spent at St Michael's ward he was spoken to by the accused. "Are the witnesses credible when they are reporting what they were allegedly told?" the defence said.

The accused is also facing charges of holding Dr Grech against his will. The fact that Dr Grech was dragged from where he fell in Triq ix-Xtut to the garage means that the aggressor stopped the victim from free movement. However there is no proof if it was indeed the accused who dragged the lawyer.

There is also no proof that Zerafa pulled the trigger of the shot that hit Dr Grech in his neck, the defence argued. The victim had sustained a gunshot wound to the left side of the neck and a 9mm bullet was found embedded in his left lung.

The court will start hearing the defence witnesses in the afternoon.

Summoned by the defence, Inspector Chris Pullicino took to the witness stand and said that on 6 July 2005, he had spoken with Steve Spiteri.

Pullicino said he asked Spiteri whether anybody else knew details about Grech's death. Spiteri had told the police Zerafa was seen speaking in confidence with Rodney Vella, which led Spiteri to believe he had also told Vella about the murder.

Pullicino said he spoke to Steve Spiteri various times about this. However, the inspector does not know the details of Spiteri's other movements while in custody, which were not related to Pullicino's office.

Brother of the accused testifies

Emmanuel Zerafa, the brother of the accused, told jurors that on the night of the murder, at 8.45 pm, David Zerafa was at home. The television in his room was on. He said he had seen David going up to his room and then did not see him again.

"I woke up at 3 am to go fishing and the bolt on the inside of the door was still locked," he said. If the locks on the inside are shut, the door could not be opened from the outside.

He saw his brother the following day at around 6 pm. His mother had told him the police had spoken to David about his whereabouts the previous night.

During the cross examination the prosecution told the witness that David had told the police that on the night of the 24 May he was in Malta. Emanuel replied: "I swear. I swear a hundred times that on thatnight David was at home because I saw him with my own eyes. He did not go to Malta. He was in Gozo."

When a year later, in July 2005, Pullicino had asked the accused's brother where David was on the night of the murder, the witness told him David had been at home.

Second brother testifies

Geoffrey Zerafa, the other brother of the accused, also said that his brother was at home on the night of the murder.

"When I returned from the sea my mother told me the police had arrested David. She was worried and concerned but I told her not to worry as my brother was home all night".

Geoffrey said that together with Emmanuel he sleeps in a room next to the front door of their house. The next morning they woke up to go fishing but stayed on the boat repairing nets as it was too stormy

to take the boat out. When he woke up, the locks on the door were

still as his brother Emanuel had left them the previous night.

Questioned directly by Judge Quintano, Geoffrey said that he was tending to his birds and at around 9 pm he went inside. He knew that the accused had gone in, had some bread and went to his room.

"If David had left the house, he would have had to pass from in front of us. I swear that until 3 am David had not left the house," he said.