Accused asks to live on a boat

A magistrate yesterday turned down a request by a business man charged with attempted murder to live on his boat rather than at his Gharghur residence.

Giouse Gauci, 58, is pleading not guilty to trying to kill his business partner Ronald Azzopardi when he allegedly shot him at his Sliema office on February 8.

Mr Gauci had been granted bail against a Lm10,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm20,000. Among the bail conditions Magistrate Saviour Demicoli had imposed curfew on Mr Gauci.

Mr Gauci filed an application asking the court to alter his curfew hours. He also asked the court to allow him to live on his boat rather than at his home. This would have meant that Mr Gauci would go on the boat during curfew.

But the magistrate ruled that a boat was not a residence that could be controlled and was also a means through which one could abscond. For this reason he denied the request but altered the curfew hours.