El Gadi in court again after making threatening gestures at Inspector

Nizar El Gadi, the Libyan man who was jailed for life after being convicted of murdering lawyer Margaret Mifsud, has appeared in court this morning in connection with accusations that he had made threatening gestures to the victim’s mother and a police inspector as he was being led out of the courtroom following his trial.

Before magistrate Joe Mifsud this morning, Inspector Keith Arnaud, who had led the murder investigation and played a key role in the successful prosecution of El Gadi, took to the witness stand.

From the back of the hall the mother of the victim had said, "something to the effect of asking whether the accused was ‘content, now that he was going to stay in Malta’” and that after that, the family had erupted into applause, the inspector testified. 

In response to the comment by Mifsud, the Libyan had gestured as if shooting the family, before turning to Inspector Arnaud and drawing his thumb across his neck, saying “you’re next.”

El Gadi’s lawyer, Martin Testaferrata Moroni Viani, asked the witness whether he felt the comments made by Mifsud had been provocative. Arnaud started to answer, explaining that the comment had been made in the context of the fact that the man had murdered the woman’s daughter, but the magistrate intervened and pointed out that this was up to him to decide.

“El Gadi had made a throat slitting gesture, said ‘you are next’ and even threw me a kiss,” the inspector said. “In the context of homicide, saying ‘you are next’ can safely be interpreted as a threat.”

Answering a question from lawyer Kathleen Grima, who is representing the Mifsud family, the inspector said that El Gadi had threatened him and his family before and had been jailed for this.

A string of witnesses, ranging from lawyers who had been in the courtroom, to members of Mifsud’s family, to correctional officers testified to El Gadi’s gestures.

Tessie Mifsud, the mother of El Gadi’s victim, Margaret testified that on the evening that the sentence was delivered, she had told the accused “issa qtajtha xewqtek.(now your wish is fulfilled)”.

“I knew that he had taken my daughter just to be allowed to stay in Malta. Then he turned towards my family and I with his thumb and index finger pointing at us like a revolver, pretending to shoot us.”

The woman had been ecstatic and unable to contain her joy that her daughter’s killer would never be a free man again, the court was told.

“He tricked her from day one. He would tell me that he had wanted to marry a Maltese girl to stay here. I was happy that justice had been served. He had said he was untouchable and he could kill me without leaving a trace.”

Vincienne Vella from the Office of the Attorney General testified that she had been in the courtroom on the day.

“El Gadi was leaving the dock. At that moment the mother of the victim was heard to say ‘now you got what you wanted’ El Gadi made a gun gesture and pretended to shoot them all.”

“El Gadi wanted to sit down briefly, so he sat down. As he was sitting, he fixed gaze on us. As he was leaving, Inspector Arnaud was on my left. The inspector is taller than him. El Gadi looked him in the eye, made a throat cutting gesture and pretended to point a pistol, saying you’re next. As he was leaving the courtroom he threw him a kiss. The words were clear.”

The accused’s lawyer asked Vella whether she had made any gestures towards him. “I do not know your client and had just visited the courtroom.”

“Did you smile at him?” the lawyer asked. She replied she hadn’t.

Lawyer Justine Cilia also confirmed the version of events, as did Carmen Galea and Mifsud’s aunt, Maria Cefai, who added that the life sentence made her “feel proud to be Maltese.” An appeal,filed by El Gadi against that very sentence, is currently pending.

The case continues in January.