Matthew Zahra shot twice in the head after being lured to Birzebbugia field

An alleged accomplice of Jason Galea, Ronald Urry, was the man who killed taxi driver Matthew Zahra with two shots to the head in a field at Birzebbugia.

Parts of Zahra's decomposing corpse were found in the same field where Mario Camilleri and his son Mario were murdered and then buried in a shallow grave in August 2013. Galea is also facing charges for the murder of the Camilleris, allegedly in a bid to cancel his mounting debts with both the father and son.

Taking the witness stand in the compilation of evidence against Galea and Ronald Urry, charged with the murder of Zahra back in 2012, criminal investigation department officer Jeffrey Gerada gave a detailed account of the events that led to Zahra's killing.

Galea was said to have admitted to police that he met Zahra at Marsaxlokk, luring him to the field to unearth a stash of drugs and money buried there. "He told him that nobody knew about this 'treasure', not even his own wife."

The two drove there in a white Skoda Felicia, and arrived to the field in Triq l-Ghannejja where earlier that day, Urry and Galea had placed a stone beneath a prickly pear tree. As Galea got out of the car to open the gate to the field, Urry came from behind a nearby tree and shot Zahra twice in the head.

They then drove into the field to carry Zahra near his burial site, which had already been dug out.

The two washed their hands and faces in a room near the field. Urry himself cleaned the blood splatter from the car. The passenger seat's headrest and sun visor were completely removed since they were soaked in blood. After leaving the scene, they left the car in St Catherine's Street, behind the Birzebbugia parish church, and later met at the local Labour club.

The firearm was thrown into the sea, and Galea also destroyed his mobile phone, disposing of it in a field near Ghar Dalam.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Joe Giglio, the CID officer said that while in police custody Jason Galea had confided in him. "He was desperate and angry. He had lost everything to Zahra, who kept blackmailing him over an incriminating photograph that Zahra claimed would destroy Galea's marriage," Gerada said.

Sitting in the dock, an emotional Jason Galea burst into tears as the officer said that Zahra had demanded €500,000 in blackmail money for him not to publish the photo. He had also purchase property that Galea was being forced to pay, in installments. "Zahra himself chased Galea down over exorbitant amounts of money and when he fell back on payments the bank started chasing him as well. In tears, Galea told us  how one moment he had lots of money and the next he was turned into a pauper in order to save his marriage," Gerada said.

Camilleri's wife takes stand

Mona Camilleri, wife of former criminal convict and drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, known as l-Imniehru, and sister-in-law of the accused Jason Galea, recounted the same details as the testimony given during the compilation of evidence in the murders of her husband and her son.

Camilleri told the court that her husband went to meet Galea and a certain Leli 'd-deffien' ("the undertaker"), after the latter called at their Swieqi residence more than four times to convince Camilleri to help him retrieve "treasure" from the same Birzebbugia field. "On the same day Leli came back and took my son to be murdered. I regret not asking my husband for the location of the field because otherwise I'd have gone looking for them," Camilleri said.

She said her niece Krystle had told her back in 2012 that she had lent her car to Galea to kill "the guy from Valletta", and when she subsequently faced Galea with the accusations, Galea allegedly told her "not to fret about the car and clean it up with bleach."

Zahra disappeared on 15 August when his father Vince Zahra filed a missing report on the evening of the feast of Santa Marija. On 19 August he inquired about the investigations into his son's disappearance. That same evening, a tip-off on his son's whereabouts led to searches that however resulted in the negative. Matthew Zahra's car was eventually found near the San Lucjan tower, close to the Marsaxlokk football club. A DVD belonging to George Tabone, owner of Gram Jewellers, was found inside Zahra's car.

A call profile of Zahra's cell phone showed that Zahra sent an SMS at 5:15am on 15 August, which was replied seconds later, followed by a telephone call he received at 5:20am, and finally at 6:04am where he received a phone call in the environs of Marsaxlokk. At that point he was 350 metres away from where the car was found.

One of the phone numbers that communicated with Zahra had only started operating on 10 August, 2012, was unregistered and used solely to communicate with the victim.

The other number that communicated with Zahra had been located in Birzebbugia at 4:57am that day, and later at the Qajjenza area at 5:47am. The phone belonged to Mary Grace Farrugia, who told the police she had lent the phone to her son Leslie, who in turn had given it to Ronald Urry, known as 'il-Lira'.

Urry was arrested at his home in Paola in late August 2013, after police forced themselves into the house where they found Urry still in his briefs, in a room at the far end of his house. The lights were out and police had to search for Urry using torches.

A mobile phone belonging to Galea was found at Urry's house. He told police he could not remember receiving any phone calls on 15 August, 2012. Police inspector Melvyn Camilleri said Urry started acting suspiciously under interrogation when Matthew Zahra's name was mentioned. "He started shifting on the chair, refusing to make eye contact and staring into space. Shortly afterwards he asked for the statement to stop and was released on police bail."

Galea was arrested on 23 August, 2013, at a police station while signing his bail book. A search at his residence returned 12 mobile phones and the SIM card that had been used to contact the victim.

Galea had told police that he knew Zahra from their younger days, and that he had two years earlier asked him for a €10,000 loan for a family member of his - for which he had to repay at the rate of €1,000 monthly. When that family member missed out on a number of payments, he accumulated €7,000 in interest.

Galea also told police that Zahra had told him he had just stole around €700,000 in gold and that he needed cash to pay his accomplice. The police inspector said the gold was allegedly sold to George Tabone of Gram Jewellers.