'I felt two shots whiz past me'

Cikku Fenech yesterday gave a detailed and animated description of a shooting incident in which he and another man exchanged fire over the use of land belonging to him.

Fenech told the court he had leased the land to lawyer Patrick Spiteri but John Pace had been making use of it over the past two years.

Matters came to a head when Dr Spiteri stopped paying the lease on the land and he told both the lawyer and Pace he wanted his land back.

Fenech said Pace turned up at his Mosta field and fired several shots at him and he was surprised at his behaviour because he had never done business with Pace let alone argue with him.

He testified before Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona in the compilation of evidence against Pace, 38, of Birkirkara who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill Fenech on May 11 at about 2.30 p.m.

Pace also pleaded not guilty to three counts of the illegal possession of a firearm, breaching the peace, trespassing and relapsing.

Fenech, 63, of Mosta is himself facing an attempted murder charge and was yesterday cautioned before taking the witness stand but insisted on saying his piece.

He explained that six years ago he had leased land in the limits of Attard to Dr Spiteri under title of emphyteusis for 90 years.

But Dr Spiteri had not paid the lease in the past two years and had allowed Pace to make use of the land in exchange of money he (Dr Spiteri) owed him.

Fenech explained that he had told Pace that if Dr Spiteri did not pay him he wanted his land back but Pace, on the other hand, had spent a lot of money on the land and did not want to lose the money he had spent.

Fenech explained that on the day of the incident he went to his Mosta field at about 1.30 p.m. and as he was putting his dogs in his Land Rover he saw Pace walk past the wall of his field and wondered what he was doing there.

Pace called Fenech to go next to him but Fenech told him to go in through the gate if he wished to speak to him.

Fenech went on to explain that he then saw Pace bend down and jump over the wall and into the field carrying a shotgun.

"I told him he did not need the shotgun to speak to me but he ran towards me with it in his hands. I asked him to get off my land. He then stopped to take aim. I ducked and hid behind a drum and he fired," Fenech said.

"I started shouting for him to stop but then I heard him shout: "I got you. This will be the end of you."

"He kept running towards me and reloaded the gun and I stayed behind the drum. Then I remembered I had a pistol in a box nearby so I grabbed it.

"He fired another two shots at me and I felt them whiz past me and puncture a plastic bucket," Fenech explained as he gestured to show the way the bullets went past him.

Fenech explained that at that point he fired four shots to scare away Pace who ran behind a tree and then out of the field from where he fired another two shots at Fenech.

Pace then hid behind his car and fired yet another shot and before he drove off he told Fenech he would be back that very evening.

Earlier, Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi said Pace had explained to police that Dr Spiteri let him use the land situated in the limits of Attard in exchange for money he owed him.

Pace said he only got to know that the land belonged to Fenech when Dr Spiteri was in jail and his secretary phoned him and told him that if he wanted to continue making use of it he had to pay Fenech Lm2,000 a year.

But when Pace refused the pay the lease, Fenech told him he had to leave.

The inspector said that Pace also told him that on the day of the incident he had gone to see a piece of land in Burmarrad that Dr Spiteri had told him about.

But the value of the Burmarrad land did not compare with the other land and the money he had spent on it. Pace felt cheated since both Fenech and Dr Spiteri had seen him spend the money on the land yet they told him he had to leave after he had spent the money.

Pace became angry and went to speak to Fenech about the matter but when Fenech told him to leave and shot at him, Pace fired back at him.

The inspector also said that Pace had previously claimed he had fired the gun first but then changed his version. He also told the police that if they released him he would try again to kill Fenech.

The case continues.