Updated | Chetcuti not guilty of GBH charge, police asked to investigate Vince Farrugia on perjury

Construction developer Sandro Chetcuti has been acquitted of the charge of causing grievous bodily harm on GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia.

Chetcuti was acquitted of the original charge of the attempted murder and harming of Farrugia, who was 65 at the time of 11 March 2010 incident, and of breaching the public peace. The attempted murder charge was later downgraded to GBH by the Attorney General during the criminal proceedings.

Chetcuti was found guilty of causing Farrugia slight injuries and of the charges of harassing and threatening Farrugia, and sentenced him to one month's imprisonment, suspended for one year. He was also placed on a €1,000 protection order not to talk or approach Farrugia.

The incident happened when the two men met at Farrugia's office to discuss an SMS that Chetcuti had mistakenly sent him, but which was addressed to then Opposition leader Joseph Muscat. Farrugia had been suspecting Chetcuti of leaking information to Muscat.

A confrontation soon ensued, with Farrugia claiming he was beaten to the ground by Chetcuti, which the accused denied. Chetcuti claimed he hit Farrugia in the face once, knocking off his spectacles in the process. But Farrugia says he was kicked while on the floor, with Chetcuti threatening he would kill him.

At that point, witnesses Paul Abela, Joe Attard and Sylvia Gauci and three other employees entered the office. Farrugia was taken to hospital, while Chetcuti turned himself in at the Valletta police station, where he was arrested, and later charged with the attempted murder of Farrugia.

Magistrate Edwina Grima today called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the alleged perjury of Vince Farrugia and other witnesses, over the evidence given to the court.

Chetcuti's lawyer Edward Gatt said the original charge had been "abusively orchestrated" and pointed out that the court, in its decision, had ordered the Commissioner of Police to investigate anybody who had falsely testified in court. "Justice has been done with my client, although we are still seeing whether we will appeal the decision. We now feel that it is up to the police to investigate anybody who has given false witness in court."

In comments to the press, Chetcuti said the incident had been "a storm in a teacup" that led to trumped-up charges against him and then a character assassination against him and his family.

Two medical experts appointed by the court had put into doubt the evidence of radiologist Anthony Samuel as to the type of injuries Farrugia suffered when he was assaulted by Chetcuti at the GRTU offices. Samuel was also found to have dated Farrugia's daughter in the past.

A former GRTU employee also testified in court that employees had been instructed by GRTU officials what to tell police and in court.

SMSes revealed in court also showed Vince Farrugia was in contact with a third party, asking him to influence Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia to undermine his aggressor Sandro Chetcuti in her blog, the defence counsel told the court in the compilation of evidence against Chetcuti.

One of the GRTU's officials, Philip Fenech, also claimed in his SMSes to Farrugia that he had garnered the sympathy of a senior police officer on the case, the Director of Prisons Abraham Zammit, and members of the press.

The SMSes also show Farrugia asking his son Jean-Karl - who was Farrugia's lawyer in the case - to call him up to testify in court first because other witnesses, GRTU staff who witnessed the assault, were 'mixing up things especially when he [Sandro Chetcuti] said noqtlok noqtlok [I'll kill you].'