Robert Chetcuti was also held for questioning about the murder of Jonathan ‘Tyson Butcher’ Pace
Robert Chetcuti, brother of Malta Developers Association president Sandro Chetcuti
I reported yesterday morning that Robert Chetcuti, 40, who was said to be missing via a police notice in the press last Thursday, was in fact being sought by the police themselves and that he was held for questioning, when they found him later that day, in connection with the murder of Carmel Chircop that same morning.
Chetcuti is a brother to Sandro Chetcuti, president of the Malta Developers Association and a “fourth floor” fundraiser and network builder for the Labour Party in the last general election campaign.
Both brothers have a police history of violence.
Yesterday afternoon I received the following email message from Sandro Chetcuti’s lawyer, William Cuschieri, who used his personal Gmail address rather than that of his firm.
Dear Ms Caruana Galizia,
I write on behalf of Robert Chetcuti with reference to the article entitled “Brother of Malta Developers Association President held for questioning in connection with lawyer’s murder” published today on your blog.
Kindly be informed that the content of the said article and in particular the allegation that Robert Chetcuti has been held for questioning in connection with the murder of Dr. Carmel Chircop is untrue and factually incorrect. My client wishes to point out that a basic standard of prudence before publishing certain articles requires that the same are based on investigative journalism not wild, untrue and incorrect assumptions.
You are therefore requested to rectify the content of your article and publish this email with the same prominence in exercise of my client’s right of reply.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. William Cuschieri
Given that my information had come from senior sources in the police, I knew for a fact that it wasn’t wrong, but I decided to double-check all the same. And it’s a good thing I did, because this allowed me to obtain even more specific information.
The police picked up Robert Chetcuti early on Thursday afternoon (they had put out a notice saying he was missing and asking for information on his whereabouts that morning) and held him until Friday afternoon. He was interrogated about the murder of Carmel Chircop, 51, who had been shot early that same morning, and also – this is new information – about the murder of Jonathan Pace, 31, owner of the famous/notorious Tyson Butcher, who was shot dead while on standing on the balcony of his home in Fgura.
Pace was facing trial at the time for the attempted murder, by shooting, of a bank robber who had himself shot at the police around 30 times while carrying out a heist.
In the light of this new information, I immediately wrote back to Dr Cuschieri explaining the situation and suggesting that he might wish to speak to his client again.