Vans used in Rabat kidnap found in field used by former official PL photographer, court hears

Two of the vans used in the abduction of a man in Rabat last year were later found in a Birżebbuġa field used by Labour insider Joseph Camenzuli, a police officer has testified.

The criminal proceedings against 28 year-old Christian Borg, and his associates Thorne Mangion, 27 years old, Tyson Grech, 26 years old, Burton Azzopardi, 20 years old, Jeremy Borg, 20 years old, and Luke John Milton, 25 years old, had continued before magistrate Monica Vella yesterday morning.

The police inspector who led the investigation, Inspector Roderick Attard, testified that the vans involved in the incident had been discovered in a field near Birżebbuġa. One of the vans, a blue Mercedes Sprinter, was found open. The other van, which was white in color was sealed, he said.

Inspector Attard also exhibited two judgments in separate criminal proceedings against Christian Borg, as well as two others against Burton Azzopardi.

The mother of the man allegedly abducted, who had previously testified, took the witness stand again yesterday morning.

She told the court how, in October 2022, she had filed a police report about the two vans. She explained that her son had been kidnapped by a group of 6 men in January 2022, who had used several vans during the commission of the crime, two of which had not been found.

She said that her son had called her up, asking her to go to Triq Bengħajsa to check out two vans that had been spotted in a field there, due to suspecting that they were the same vehicles that had been used in his abduction. The witness said that she went and took photos and videos, which she then sent to her son. He recognised them as the vehicles in question, and so they had both gone to file a report about this at the police station on 28 October at around 6pm. Police officers had then accompanied them to the field, the court heard.

A police constable from the Paola police station took the stand next.

He had received the report about the vans from Carlos Schembri, the man who had allegedly been abducted. “I followed Carlos in the police car to Triq Bengħajsa, Birżebbuġa where the vans were found without licence plates.”

The witness was shown photos of the vehicles, which he confirmed were the same vans.

“We weren’t sure who the field belonged to, but a certain Joseph Camenzuli came to the site and told us that he was using it to park vans there. He said he had ‘obtained’ it ( iddubbaha) from someone else.” In February last year, Camenzuli took over the directorship of the Princess group of companies from Christian Borg, one of the men accused of direct involvement in the abduction and assault. Camenzuli had previously been the official photographer of the Labour Party and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Lawyer Steven Tonna Lowell further asked how Schembri had explained his discovery of the vans to the police. “He told me that he had been driving along the road and happened upon the vans”, replied the inspector.

The case was adjourned to June. Inspectors Roderick Attard and Sarah Kathleen Zerafa are prosecuting, together with lawyer Francesco Refalo from the office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Giannella de Marco, Gianluca Caruana Curran, Michael Sciriha, Franco Debono, Matthew Xuereb, Jason Grima, Christina Sutton and Stefano Filletti are appearing for the defendants.

Lawyer Shaun Zammit appeared parte civile for Schembri.