Defendant found curled up in a ball after shooting

The brother of murder defendant Martin Mifsud yesterday told a court how he found his brother curled up in a ball, crying and shaking, after he got a call to hurry to his bakery because something had happened.

Godwin Mifsud said he had been on his way to the bakery when he got a second call from a certain John Sammut who told him that his brother Martin was at his garage and he went to find him "huddled up like a hedgehog in the corner of a room on the roof".

Mifsud said his brother was crying and shaking and the only words he could get out of him were "they came to get us".

He testified in the trial by jury of Martin Mifsud, 39, of Mqabba, who is pleading not guilty to the wilful homicide of Julian Zammit, 25, in San Gwann on March 11, 1998, at about 3 p.m.

Godwin Mifsud yesterday explained how he told Sammut, whom he knew by his nickname ic-Cappu, to take care of his brother because he did not trust him alone.

"I was scared he'd do something like jump off the roof. I didn't want to leave him there alone. I had never seen my brother in that state," Godwin Mifsud said.

Sammut later took the witness stand and explained how Martin Mifsud walked into his office and went upstairs. He called Godwin Mifsud who arrived after some time and went to speak to his brother.

Sammut said he had never seen a man so scared and that he actually got frightened himself.

Godwin Mifsud's son Frankie explained how both Martin Mifsud and Julian Zammit were his uncles. Mifsud was his father's brother while Julian Zammit was his mother's brother.

Frankie Mifsud said he had learnt from his father that Martin Mifsud believed that Stephen Zammit had robbed him of some money. His father however also told him not to speak to anyone about the matter.

The next morning, Stephen Zammit's wife, Denise, went to his shop and told him that Martin Mifsud had accused Stephen Zammit of stealing.

That day at about 2.30 p.m. he saw Julian, Stephen and Denise Zammit speaking round the corner from the bakery on his way to grab something to eat.

Soon after his father phoned him and asked him if he had spoken to anyone about the money matter. Frankie Mifsud assured his father that he had not but that Denise Zammit had mentioned the matter to him.

Frankie Mifsud said his father then told him to go to the bakery to explain everything to his uncle Martin to avoid any misunderstanding.

He obeyed. While he was there, his aunt Rita, Martin Mifsud's wife, went to the bakery with their two sons.

Suddenly, Julian, Stephen and Denise Zammit stormed into the bakery and the two men started hitting Martin Mifsud. He tried to calm them down but he was thrown to the ground and kicked in the chest.

"Uncle Martin managed to get into the store. When uncle Julian and uncle Stephen realised that he had managed to get away they got even madder and shouted that they did not need his money and would show him what their family was made of."

Frankie Mifsud said the Zammit brothers then proceeded to break up the place. Stephen Zammit grabbed a bottle and broke it against the freezer and then overturned a stack of empty milk crates.

"Aunt Rita tried to calm them down but they called her names and Stephen Zammit hit her in the chest. Then I saw the door to the store room open and saw Uncle Martin pointing a shotgun towards the ground.

"I heard Uncle Stephen tell Uncle Julian that Uncle Martin had come out of the store and then I saw them charge towards him. Someone pushed or pulled uncle Julian and I heard the shot."

Frankie Mifsud said he then went to call his father.

Denise Zammit said she was waiting in the car while her husband Stephen spoke to Martin Mifsud when her brother-in-law Julian called her and told her he was on his way.

Her husband eventually came out of the bakery and got in the car and they saw Julian Zammit arriving.

"He asked my brother what the matter was all about and my husband explained that Martin had accused him of stealing. My husband said Martin had paid him for the previous three days' work and tried to convince him to work till Sunday so that he could find another delivery man in the meantime.

"He remarked that he could not understand Martin because he had first accused him of stealing money and had then tried to convince him to accept more money than was his due."

Denise Zammit said she heard Julian Zammit tell her husband not to work for Martin Mifsud any more when her husband said he would work till Sunday.

Julian Zammit had also remarked that it was time someone gave Martin Mifsud a beating because he was already fed up with him telling people he (Julian) was not a gentleman and said that he had come to carry it out himself.

He then went inside the bakery and her husband followed him to stop him. She heard shouting and swearing coming from the bakery and followed them inside.

When she saw Martin Mifsud disappear into the store, she locked him inside and stood with her back to the store so that he would not come out and her husband and his brother would not go after him.

She said Julian Zammit was angry and was slamming things but her husband was not making a scene because he had only gone in to stop his brother.

But Martin Mifsud's wife hit him and he lost his temper and started shouting too. She said her husband had only lost his temper when Rita Mifsud slapped him.

Asked under cross-examination whether Rita Mifsud slapped Stephen Zammit because he had thrown down some milk crates close to where her children were standing, Denise Zammit said she heard the crates fall but did not know how they had fallen.

She said the situation was quite chaotic, what with the brothers swearing and shouting and the children crying, but Julian Zammit calmed down when he saw his brother getting angry and tried to get him out of the shop.

She said the situation had quietened down and they had started moving to leave the bakery when Martin Mifsud appeared in the doorway holding a shotgun after his wife unlocked the door to the store and let him out.

Stephen Zammit explained how the accusation of theft originated because he had gone to Martin Mifsud's office to ask him for a cigarette, as he usually did, but did not find him inside.

Martin Mifsud appeared as he was leaving his office and accused him of going through his papers.

He later accused him of stealing money and he denied it. Stephen Zammit said he left the bakery at the end of the day's work to meet his wife and told her he was thinking of leaving his job because he was tired of the accusations.

He stopped by the bakery to tell Martin Mifsud he was quitting and they resolved the matter civilly with the understanding that he would call Martin Mifsud that evening if he decided he would work till the Sunday.

But when he returned to his car, his wife told him that his brother Julian had called and was on his way. When Julian arrived, he went inside the bakery and by the time he followed him inside he had already taken off his jacket and punched Martin Mifsud.

He said he had accidentally dropped some crates and they made quite a lot of noise and the children started crying. Then Rita Mifsud hit him and he lost his temper because he could not understand why she was hitting him when he had only gone inside the bakery to try and take his brother back out.

He said his brother tried to calm him down when he heard him swearing and that things had quietened down and they were leaving the bakery when Rita Mifsud opened the door to the store and her husband appeared in the doorway with the shotgun.

He said he heard the shot and saw his brother fall to the ground. He tried to catch him but was not really sure what happened then because he did not know what he was doing.

They eventually got out of the bakery and he went to the police station to report the matter.

Earlier, Charmaine Debono explained that she worked at the bakery and had seen Julian Zammit storm into the bakery, head for Martin Mifsud, who was standing behind her, and hit him.

Debono explained that Julian and Stephen Zammit were both furious and pushed each other as though each wanted to beat Martin Mifsud first.

She said that they even pushed Martin Mifsud's wife who was trying to calm down the situation which she described as "terrifying."

She explained how there was a lot of screaming, shouting and the children were crying.

"I picked up the baby from the playpen because I felt that he was in danger. When I lifted him up he held onto my face so tightly that I could hardly handle him," Debono explained.

The trial continues this morning.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara is prosecuting.

Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Emmanuel Mallia are appearing for Mifsud while Dr Raphael Fenech Adami is representing the Zammit family.