Man sets alight his brother’s VolksWagen car in violent family feud

A family argument that allegedly ended up with a man’s car being set on fire has landed his two brothers in the dock.

Roderick Grech, 34, and Errol Grech, 39, both of whom are unemployed, were hauled before magistrate Neville Camilleri this morning, accused of arson and criminal damage after allegedly setting their brother’s VolksWagen ablaze.

The pair were also charged with causing their brother to fear violence against him or his property. Roderick Grech was further charged with recidivism.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Martin Fenech, jointly defending the two accused, entered not guilty pleas on their clients’ behalf and requested bail. The facts of the case were being contested, said the defence. “It is a family issue, and they no longer reside under one roof. One of the accused takes care of their 73-year-old mother, and the other brother doesn’t live with them anymore. One hopes that the disagreement will be sorted out in future.”

But senior inspector Trevor Micallef, prosecuting, objected to the men’s release because the alleged victim had not yet testified and because this was not the first time the police had to intervene in one of their family arguments. There were also civilian witnesses who were yet to testify, he said.

Debono argued that civilian witnesses were present in every case. If the court imposed fitting conditions, the rights of all involved could be protected, submitted the lawyer.

Leafing through the men’s criminal records, the court observed that the accused had also been charged with fighting each other in the past. “Then they made up,” explained Debono.

After considering the nature of the case and the charges and in view of the men’s criminal records, the court remanded the men in custody due to the fact that it was not satisfied that they would obey their bail conditions.