Court hears of build-up to shooting incident

A man standing trial for attempted murder told the police how he fired his shotgun in the air outside his brother-in-law's house because he felt defamed by allegations that he had harassed his in-law's wife, jurors heard yesterday.

Former Police Inspector John Sacco told jurors that, in a statement to the police, Victor Pace admitted firing the shotgun outside the house of Christopher Zarb but denied aiming the gun in his direction.

Mr Pace explained that he fired the gun in the air because he felt defamed by allegations made by Mr Zarb and his wife, Dianne, who claimed that he had harassed Mrs Zarb.

Mr Sacco took the witness stand before Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono in the trial by jury against Mr Pace, 42, of Birkirkara who is pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of his wife Rita's brother, Mr Zarb, when he fired a shotgun in his direction in Bahar ic-Caghaq on August 5, 2000.

He is also pleading not guilty to the possession of a firearm without a licence.

Mr Sacco explained that on August 5, 2000, at about 5.45 p.m. the police were informed that there had been a shooting in Bahar ic-Caghaq.

When he arrived on the scene Mr Zarb told him that Mr Pace had fired a shotgun at him and his house's façade.

Mr Sacco noticed that there seemed to be pellet marks in the wall of the house and that there were four cartridges in the road.

Police arrested Mr Pace for questioning and, after being cautioned, he released a statement which was yesterday read to jurors.

In the statement Mr Pace explained that the incident happened because Mr and Mrs Zarb were defaming him by alleging that he had harassed Mrs Zarb.

He explained that on the day of the incident the Zarbs phoned his wife and told her that he (Mr Pace) had harassed Mrs Zarb. Mrs Pace told them that she would take them to court for defamation and Mrs Zarb threatened to hurt the Pace family.

Mr Zarb then phoned to iron things out but Mr Pace told him that it was not right that first he had said all that and then he expected him to let it go.

Mr Pace admitted to firing the shotgun near Mr Zarb's house but explained that he fired one shot in the air and another shot fired by mistake as he was handling the gun. He denied firing four shots.

Jurors yesterday also heard Mr Zarb explain that, sometime in 2000, he employed Mr Pace and his brothers to carry out maintenance works at his house.

One day Mr Zarb told his wife that he wanted to invite his sister and her husband over. She told him that she did not mind having his sister over but she did not want Mr Pace in her house. It took him days to convince her to tell him what had happened and, when he threatened her with separation, she decided to tell him.

"She told me that some time earlier Victor (Mr Pace) had waited for her to arrive back home after taking our son to school. When she arrived home he knocked at the garage door and asked her if he could check out the work.

"After that she offered him a beer but he did not accept. Then he told her that there were many men who would like to go out with her and he would take the first opportunity with her. Then he grabbed her and tried to kiss her and she told him to leave.

"She did not want to tell me because she did not want to cause problems. Besides, she said that Victor told her that, if she opened her month, he would send men behind our door."

As time passed Mr Zarb started noticing Mr Pace's friend lurking outside his house.

"I couldn't take it any longer. I phoned my sister, Rita (Mrs Pace) and told her to tell Victor to leave me, my wife and son alone. I did not tell her what happened.

"She later called back and insisted on knowing what had happened. I told her on the condition that she did not tell Victor," Mr Zarb said.

But Mrs Pace told her husband and, a few days later, Mr Pace phoned Mr Zarb and started shouting and threatening to shoot his family. Mr Zarb immediately filed a police report at the Naxxar police station.

A few days later Mrs Pace phoned Mr Zarb and started insulting him and telling him that his wife was seeing another man. Mr Pace grabbed the phone and said he was going to shoot them.

Mr Zarb told his family to stay in the garden while he kept running up to the roof to look at the road.

After some time he saw Mr Pace drive up in front of his house in his white Toyota Corrolla, get a shot gun out of the luggage boot and aim it in his direction. As he ran for his life, Mr Zarb said, he heard another three shots being fired.

Mr Pace had fired shots into his bedroom and his son's bedroom and, Mr Zarb said, he knew that the family watched television in the main bedroom.

"He fired to kill me and, when he did not manage, he tried to kill my family," he said.

He added that the incident had various repercussions on his life.

"We had to move out of the house and into an apartment because our son would wake up at night crying that Victor was going to shoot," he said.

The trial continues this morning.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara is prosecuting.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Anglu Farrugia are appearing for Mr Pace while Lawyer Chris Cilia is representing Mr Zarb.