Sumith Prasad
Peacock’s biographical drama series ‘Lockerbie: A Search for Truth’ depicts the trial of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who are accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, in detail. As the investigative show reveals, Tony Gauci, a shop owner in Malta, identified Megrahi as the person who bought the clothes that wrapped the bomb. The identification and his supporting statements played a crucial role in the Libyan national’s conviction. For years after the infamous trial, Gauci remained in the spotlight as his credibility and the authenticity of his identification were intensely scrutinized. The controversies only increased when details concerning an alleged reward surfaced before his death.
Tony Gauci’s Identification of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Was a Turning Point in the Lockerbie Trial Despite the Contradictions in His Statements
Tony Gauci was the proprietor of Mary’s House, a clothing store located in Sliema, Malta. According to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s indictment, the Libyan national bought a set of clothes from the shop on December 7, 1988, a few days before the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The investigators interviewed the storekeeper and asked him to identify the purchaser of the clothes several times. According to Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph’s source text of the show, ‘The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice,’ Gauci had a hard time recognizing the person when the officers presented several photographs before him. This hesitation, however, was not present when he was called in as a witness in the trial.
After taking the stand as a witness in 2000, Gauci identified Abdelbaset al-Megrahi as the purchaser he met on December 7. However, several of his statements contradicted this identification. According to the storekeeper, it was raining when the purchaser left his shop, which doesn’t align with the meteorological records that state it didn’t rain on the same day. Swire’s book also states that Gauci was convinced that the purchaser didn’t buy a shirt from his store, even though a fragment of the timer of the bomb was found in the collar of one. The witness’ credibility was further affected when he couldn’t be certain whether there were Christmas lights on the day of the purchase.
Gauci’s statements were unconvincing even for the members of the Scottish law community. Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, a former Lord Advocate, described him as “not quite the full shilling” and an “apple short of a picnic” in October 2005. The words of the influential figure stunned those who believed in the supposed innocence of Megrahi, including Jim Swire, as they believed that someone without adequate credibility shouldn’t have been presented as a witness.
Tony Gauci’s Credibility and Testimony Were Questioned After the Lockerbie Trial
Tony Gauci’s credibility was under immense scrutiny after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) concluded its review of the case in 2007. The public body discovered that the witness came across Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s photograph in a magazine that deemed him as the bomber a few days before he was slated to identify the purchaser. This information was also withheld from the defense lawyers during the trial. In October 2007, the representatives of Megrahi revealed that Gauci might have accepted $2 million from the US Department of Justice for providing his testimony as part of the “Rewards for Justice” program.
In 2013, The Sunday Times of Malta published a report about this allegation based on “dozens of documents annexed” to the 2007 SCCRC report. According to these documents, Detective Superintendent Tom McCulloch of Scottish Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary tried to secure $2 million for Gauci and $1 million for the latter’s brother, Paul, for their cooperation with the prosecution. “There is little doubt that [Tony Gauci’s] evidence was the key to the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed Al Megrahi. I therefore feel that he is a worthy of nominee for the reward,” reads a letter written by McCulloch to the US authorities, as per The Sunday Times of Malta.
Tony Gauci Passed Away in 2016
Tony Gauci passed away on October 29, 2016, at the age of 75, due to natural causes. Since the conclusion of the trial and the subsequent developments that questioned his credibility, life hadn’t been easy for the witness. “We are under very heavy pressure here. The press [wants] to photograph us; everybody wants to interview my brother; we have no privacy. When we step out the door, there are people with cameras. Our lives are intolerable here,” his brother, Paul Gauci, told Malta Today. There were unconfirmed rumors in the late 2010s that he had moved to Australia.
Following Gauci’s death, George Thomson, who was part of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s legal team, expressed that his client, while he was on his deathbed, was looking forward to confronting the witness in “another place.” The lawyer added that the convicted Libyan national wanted the storekeeper to “answer for the lies he said against him.” “I personally hope that Tony is in a better place and that he is now at peace because he must have led a tortured life knowing that he had jailed an innocent man for money,” Thomson added, as per Times of Malta.
Even after his death, Gauci was ever-present in the Lockerbie bombing case proceedings. When the defense team of Megrahi returned to a Scottish appeals court to prove his apparent innocence posthumously in 2020, the lawyers argued that the testimony of the witness shouldn’t be relied upon, describing the latter’s identification of their client as “highly prejudicial.” Still, Megrahi’s team lost the third appeal in 2021. To this day, Gauci remains one of the most controversial figures in the Lockerbie bombing case. Not even his passing has been able to save him from scrutiny, which has been revived because of ‘Lockerbie: A Search for Truth.’
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