UPDATED: Labour MP and surgeon Anthony Zammit was found hog-tied and naked in bed after being dropped off at home in the early hours by Natius Farrugia
Ignatius Farrugia, the Labour mayor of Zurrieq – surgeon Anthony Zammit, who was at the time a Labour MP, had been out with him that night and Farrugia dropped him off at home. The two were involved in a relationship in that period.
Times of Malta reports from the courtroom this morning:
A close friend of former Labour MP Anthony Zammit described in court this morning how he found the MP bound and naked on his bed after intruders forced their way into his house in Zebbug in August 2008.
Philip Schembri said that he used to look after the victim’s house while his wife would wash his clothes and cook for him.
On the day in question, he was woken up by a phone call. The person on the other end (Prof Zammit) asked him to go to his home as he had been burgled. The police also called to tell him the same thing.
He went on site and on opening the door he heard moaning from the bedroom. The room was locked. The policemen kicked the door in and they found Prof Zammit naked, lying face down on the bed, badly bruised, hands tied behind his back. A doctor was called and he assisted Prof Zammit downstairs and prepared some coffee.
(…)
Mr Schembri said the rooms had not been ransacked and it didn’t look like there had been a theft. However items were missing from one display cabinet.
Times of Malta has since corrected this report to say that it was a policeman who rang Schembri. No mention is made of an earlier call from an unspecified person or Zammit.
The Malta Independent is a whole lot more specific: Zammit didn’t merely have his hands tied behind his back, but was hog-tied. And Schembri did not say he received a call from Anthony Zammit, but from “an unspecified person”.
The newspaper reports:
Former Labour MP Anthony Zammit was found hogtied and naked, with blood running down his lips and trauma to his head, his handyman Philip Schembri told a court heard today in the second day of a trial by jury.
(…)
Schembri, who had a key to the property, was the first person on the scene together with a policeman. Schembri received a call on his mobile phone at around 4am in the morning from an unspecified person, informing him about the robbery. At first he did not believe it, but he then received another call from a policeman, confirming the incident.
(…)
Schembri told the court that there was no sign that anything had been stolen, although some antiques appeared to be missing from a display cabinet, he said.
The Malta Independent also reports another salient fact from the courtroom: that Anthony Zammit had been out with (Labour mayor of Zurrieq) Natius Farrugia before returning home at 2am that night. He had originally told the press, and this was reported, that he had returned from his clinic (well, surgeons do operate late into the night at times).
He clearly felt he had to cover up the fact that he was out with Ignatius Farrugia, who was his boyfriend at the time.
Natius Farrugia, who has a criminal conviction for harassment and who has been bound over not to approach his victim (me) for a year, said in court that it was he who picked up Zammit from his home and dropped him off against after their dinner “with a family they both knew”.
Times of Malta makes no mention yet of Natius Farrugia’s testimony.
Interestingly, while the reports say that the house was not ransacked and that nothing appeared to have been stolen, though some items seemed to be missing from one cabinet, a police officer testified (reported in The Malta Independent) that it was the kitchen and bedroom that “appeared to have been ransacked”.
Taking to the witness stand, Police Major Joseph Borg said that both Zammit’s bedroom and kitchen appeared to have been ransacked. Borg arrived on the scene after Zammit had been untied.
Oh, and let’s get this straight at the outset: this is not about Anthony Zammit’s sexuality or his personal predilections for rough trade. That is hardly relevant, though his choice of companions might well have been given that he was a member of parliament at the time. This is about the likelihood that he might have felt himself compelled to create a mise en scene with the press (and therefore the public) and possibly also with the police to cover up details which he might have felt to be embarrassing.
Which of course brings us back to the original point: that hanging around with rough trade when you’re a member of parliament and not at all rough trade yourself, for sexual and related reasons, is a public-interest matter becauses it exposes you to just this sort of thing, and the need you might feel to invent details to conceal aspects of your behaviour.
18 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Apparently, by clenching one’s gluteus maximus really tight it may be possible to press the ‘redial’ function and summon a close friend.
Whatever the collective term for liars may be, It becomes increasingly obvious that our courts are full of them.
The Times have edited the article just now:
“On the day in question, he was woken up by a phone call. The person on the other end (a policeman) asked him to go to Prof. Zammit’s home as he had been burgled.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140513/local/friend-describes-scene-in-former-mps-house-after-intruders-escaped.518826
TOM has corrected it now…
“On the day in question, he was woken up by a phone call. The person on the other end (a policeman) asked him to go to Prof. Zammit’s home as he had been burgled. “
And we are being asked to believe that the “burglars” took the trouble of stripping him naked before tying him up.
[Daphne – It doesn’t follow necessarily that they stripped him. He might sleep naked – lots of people do.]
I’ll give you that. I was still in the “just returned home” part of the story. This is from yesterday’s Times of Malta report.
“When he was released, he said that he had just got home and was about to sleep when he found the men in the bedroom.”
So yes, “was about to sleep” could indicate that he had already undressed himself.
Still, there are enough clues to suggest that he didn’t undress himself to sleep at all, but for other reasons. Natius dropped him off at home in Zebbug at 2am, and the police were called at 4:30am.
From yesterday’s Times of Malta report: “At around 4.30am, the police were called to Prof Zammit’s house after people who had been drinking at a bar saw two hooded men running from the house and trying to drive off.”.
One would assume that the people who were drinking at the bar called minutes after that saw the men running away from Zammit’s house. So the call must have been made shortly before 4:30am.
That’s a whole two and a half hours after the time he said he had returned home (2am) and was about to get into bed when the men stormed in. It is unlikely that they spent two and a half hours beating him and then only left with a ring and whatever.
Also, what is the situation with someone who is lying under oath, especially now that the evidence that is coming out doesn’t quite line up with sworn testimonies of friends/handyman/cleaner/others, and circumstantial evidence suggests that Zammit may have twisted facts to protect his privacy?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140513/local/friend-describes-scene-in-former-mps-house-after-intruders-escaped.518826
[Daphne – Zammit has not yet testified under oath. It is what he says in court that counts in terms of perjury, and not anything he might have said to the press or the police.]
What I find strange is why did the burglars have to wait until he was home, get naked and ready to get into bed, and then tie him up and carry out their crime? If they entered with a key, why didn’t they take whatever they wanted and escape while he was out?
How many burglaries are reported every year in which the victim is found naked tied on his bed?
Things do not add up here.
[Daphne – There have been several burglaries in which the victims are restrained, some of them in bed because that is where one generally is at night (the sad Zammit Tabona case comes immediately to mind). Violence or the threat of violence are used for information on where cash is stored, or victims are restrained simply to get them out of the way.]
Did Zammit Tabona have a similar incident? Can you point us to a press report of this.
[Daphne – I don’t mean Kenneth Zammit Tabona. There are very many Zammit Tabonas. The case to which I refer is of an elderly couple, who had just lost their only son in a traffic accident, who were tied up and beaten in their home at night by an intruder who robbed them. The intruder turned out to have been somebody who had worked for them, in their home, for 30 years. I always assume everybody knows everyone – I shouldn’t do that.]
He was the local electrician (Saliba) who knew the house well as he carried out electrical repairs for them.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-13/news/former-labour-mp-found-hogtied-and-naked-with-bloody-lips-4976574466/
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140513/local/friend-describes-scene-in-former-mps-house-after-intruders-escaped.518826
It would be interesting to know why Schembri fell out with Anthony Zammit. Does his wife still clean and washes for him?
“Schembri told the court that he no longer works for Zammit.” (The Malta Independent)
Lippu c-Catur did not work for Anthony Zammit. He was his canvasser.
Lippu c-Catur was waiting for Zammit to become Minister. Once that chance vanished into thin air, Lippu dumped Zammit.
Lippu has a long career behind him with Bank of Valletta, where he was a sort of wheeler-dealer, particularly when he worked down there at the branch on the wharf. But then he had problems with the bank.
Given Lippu’s background, who knows who that unspecified person really was, and what Lippu’s real involvement in the whole story might have been.
“Mr Schembri explained how Prof Zammit had given him his house key, and he would call him to open the door whenever somebody needed to make deliveries.”
Some friend. He was the first one to be called by the police. He took care of his house together with his wife. He must have been trusted, if not the most trusted. And then he dumps him. Way to go.
“This is about the likelihood that he might have felt himself compelled to create a mise en scene with the press (and therefore the public) and possibly also with the police to cover up details which he might have felt to be embarrassing.”
This links with your comment of yesterday as to why the prosecution felt the need to ask for the case to be heard behind closed doors.
Some people want to use the media only where it suits them.
The above reports clearly show why The Malta Independent is increasing in popularity.
If all this was a steamy game gone wrong, how did this case went past the police’s investigation and the compilation of evidence in the first court to arrive at trial stage?
I’m more inclined to think that Zammit was raped rather than robbed. Hence the prosecution’s request for the case to be heard behind closed doors.
God I wish I was writing novels; the intricacy of these stories could make an interesting read for some.