Philip Borg, 52 of Balzan was remanded in custody today after being accused of the attempted murder of Frederick Dalli of Cospicua in a shooting incident in Balzan earlier this week.

His 17-year-old son was accused of complicity and was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm5,000 and strict conditions, which include house arrest.

The incident alleged stemmed from an argument over dogs.

Mr Dalli was slightly injured when he was shot in the back.

Both accused pleaded not guilty.

On requesting bail for his clients, defence counsel Anglu Farrugia argued that they kept a huge amount of animals at their home, including some 400 parrots, a dozen dogs and other animals. "These animals take a lot of hours of care and special attention,² Dr Farrugia said.

Police Inspector Daniel Zammit, prosecuting together with Inspector Ramon Mercieca, objected, saying only the son should be granted bail and he could then take care of the animals.

"I¹m sure nobody would want these animals to be harmed, but I don¹t feel this justifies granting the accused bail. Besides, the son is more than capable of taking care of the animals," Inspector Mercieca said.

Dr Farrugia insisted that the accused posed no threat to the investigation and was therefore eligible for bail independently of this reason.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman decided to grant bail only to the son.