Qbajjar murder trial | Judge begins final address

Judge Antonio Mizzi has moved to ease tensions stirred up by defence submissions yesterday, as he began his summing up to the jury trying a man for murder.

The trial of pensioner Gerald Galea, accused of the murder of kiosk operator John Spiteri and the attempted murder of Spiteri’s son, Matthew in 2013, entered its penultimate stage this morning.

The judge began his explanation of the evidence and arguments made by both sides, together with the salient legal points, for the benefit of the jurors, in an address which is expected to take several hours.

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Both prosecution and defence had declared their submissions closed yesterday.

At the beginning of this morning’s sitting, he clarified for the benefit of the general public that the submissions made before the jury yesterday, in which the prosecution was accused of not giving prominence to facts which didn’t help its arguments, were intended metaphorically.

Heated exchanges are nothing new in trials by jury, explained the judge, saying that they were “an expected element of the dialectic of such trials, where both parties strive to earn the jury’s favour.”

The judge explained to the jurors that their role was to “piece together the jigsaw puzzle of evidence” before them, advising them to remain indifferent to the exchanges between lawyers about how to interpret the evidence.

After the judge completes this final address, the jury will retire to deliberate and eventually reach a verdict.

Lawyers Giannella Busuttil and Kevin Valletta from the Office of the Attorney General are prosecuting. Galea is being defended by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jason Azzopardi. Lawyer Joe Giglio is representing the Spiteri family as parte civile.