The following report appeared writ large, with accompanying photos it took up most of page 7 of Sydneys mass circulation paper The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday June 6th 2001:
Greed, God and a hitman husband. Court told of murder. By Will Temple.
Lenny Baldacchino was the lead singer in Maltese wedding band Cosmos when he met and fell in love with vocalist and cake shop owner Doris Cardona.
But it was his love of Jehovah that more than a decade later led him to confess his sin of murdering her ex-husband at her alleged instruction.
The claims were made yesterday in the Supreme Court of New South Wales where Cardona, 49, is standing trial for the murder of Joseph Farrugia, killed in August 1985 just days before Doris Cardona was due to pay him $21,500 in a family court settlement.
Cardona has pleaded not guilty to the charge, which came only after Baldocchino's conversion to the Jehovah's Witness Church and agreement to turn Crown Witness in the case.
Breaking a twelve year silence, Baldocchino came to police in May 1997 and told them how he broke into Mr Farrugia's Greystains home armed with a shortened .22 calibre rifle and shot him in the head as he slept.
He was charged with murder and sentenced to 16 years jail for his part in the killing. Before his sentence he agreed to give evidence against Cardona, who he married after Mr Farrugia's death but divorced before his religious conversion.
In his opening address yesterday Crown Prosecutor Phillip Ingram said: "The Crown case is that Baldicchino and the accused spoke about the man Farrugia many times and that what occurred was that the accused commenced to speak with Baldaccino and Baldacchino with her concerning the subject of getting rid of Farrugia - killing him.
Mr Ingram told the jury they could expect to hear evidence the couple first hired a hitman - a work colleague of Baldiccino's - for a $2,500 down payment. When the man disappeared Cardona told her lover he would have to do it instead.
The Crown alleges Cardona convincedd Baldiccino to kill Mr Farrugia after complaining of her ex-husband's domestic violence and her anger at having to pay him money she felt was undeserved.
Mr Farrugia was shot the night of August 6 and died the following day in hospital, about a week before Cardona was due to pay him $21,500 in exchange for the title on the former family home.
Defence barrister Paul Byrne, SC, told the jury they would have to weigh Baldiccino's evidence very carefully. "You already know he (Baldiccino) killed a man in cold blood," Mr Byrne said. "That's not a good start in assessing a persons credibility"
(he said, clutching at straws <-- unclebarruster added that)
*****
(I came accross this article yesterday while eating fish and chips and enjoying the ocean views from the Tathra take away - can't a bloke get a moments peace without JW stuff rearing its ugly bonce? <-- retorical question. cheers, unclebruce ;)
PS: JW's and murder - what a combination. Perhaps it's being raised on those sleasy bible stories or perhaps it's personal experience that makes the subject resonate with me, you see my mother is mad, she murdered my brother, became a JW to swage her guilt and now can't wait to see most of mankind murdered (especially her neighbours) by an angry old Jehovah .. it's a funny old world. (glad she didn't end up marrying Mick Moffa the Adelaide man who murdered his wife and her lover and stopped his bible study and flirtation with mum the moment he was released from Jail ... he might be a murdering bag of shit but he ain't altogether stupid) People are complicated ... as well as being completely mad mother is an upstanding Jehovah's Witness and I love her all the same .. she is kind to animals and small children and makes the best apple and apricot pies ;)