Court hears how police intervention saved man from taking his own life

A father and son have been denied bail after being accused of charging excessive rates of interest, threatening a man they had allegedly loaned money to, and causing the man to fear that violence would be used against him.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud heard the testimony of a man who is said to have fallen victim to the pair, acting as loan sharks, and also heard how efforts by the police to locate the man had saved him from taking his own life.

Anthony Galea, 55, and his son Gilbert Galea, 26, both from Żurrieq, stand accused of the charges described above. The pair were escorted to court on Christmas Eve after the alleged victim had confessed to the police of how a loan of roughly €7,500 led to excessive and abusive repayment demands.

Both the father and son pleaded not guilty. The alleged victim took the stand this morning and described to the court how the ordeal began in 2015, when he turned to the Galeas for a loan. He said that the father and son were known to give out loans, and had therefore turned to them for €3,000 for the purposes of refurbishing a snack bar.

He was quickly given the loan, the court heard, and the terms of payment were that he would have to pay monthly sums worth €500.

He said that after paying three instalments, the last one being in February 2016, despite carrying on paying the pending balance never decreased.

The alleged victim also told the court that the son, Gilbert Galea, once floated the idea that the debt could be cleared against a lump-sum payment of €3,500. He could not afford such a lump payment and wound up turning to his creditors for a second loan of €4,500. The total loan therefore stood at €7,500.

Due to the ever-increasing repayments, the man gave up on making his monthly payments, and instead began living a life of fear that Galeas would come seek him out.

The man described to the court how in January 2017 he was informed that his loan had reached €220,000 leading him to turn to Caritas for assistance. Caritas contacted the Galeas however they had never returned the call.

He said that in December 2017 upon returning home, he found Gilbert Galea waiting for him in a silver BMW who threatened that if he did not bring €120,000 in a week, he would not be having a pleasant Christmas.

Due to the desperation of his situation, the man told the court that he could not live like that any longer and decided to take his own life. On 16 December, he reportedly sent a text message to a friend explaining his situation, and said that he would switch his phone off and no longer be around anymore.

This led the friend to file a police report, prompting the police to search for the man. He was eventually found in Ta’ Qali and taken into custody. After being released, it took the man four days to pluck up the courage to leave home and give a statement to the police.

Inspector Jeffery Scicluna prosecuted, lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela were defence while lawyers Franco Debono and Yanika Vidal appeared parte civile.