Three cleared of attempted murder

A jury yesterday acquitted a couple and the woman's uncle of the attempted murder of a neighbour during an argument in September 2001 but found them guilty of participating in a fight in which the victim was seriously injured.

George Gatt, Louise Zahra and her husband Anthony were cleared by seven votes to two of the attempted murder of Stephen Sultana. But the jurors found them guilty of accidental affray, that is, having participated in a fight in which Mr Sultana was seriously injured. The trial was characterised by conflicting testimonies with Mr Sultana giving a very different version of events to those recounted by Mrs Zahra.

Mr Sultana said the argument erupted when Mr Zahra shouted at him for sweeping dirt in the road. He said that during the argument he had been stabbed three times by Mr Gatt, Mrs Zahra's uncle, and that Mr Zahra had tried to shoot him three times but the gun did not go off.

On the other hand, Mrs Zahra said it was Mr Sultana who had started the argument when he beat her uncle in the middle of the road for no apparent reason when Mr Gatt arrived to babysit her children.

Before hearing the pleas on punishment, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono told the defence team that the accused faced up to three months in prison.

Defence lawyer Raphael Fenech Adami asked the court to consider the fact that Mr Gatt was a very sick man, a diabetic in a wheelchair who had to take two injections a day and who had to make regular visits to hospital.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto, another member of the defence team, told the court that it was evident from the verdict that the jurors did not believe Mr Sultana's testimony.

He asked the court to appreciate the fact that his clients had been waiting for seven years, facing a jail term of up to 30 years.

Mr Justice Galea Debono after considering the criminal record of the accused, sentenced Mr Gatt to three months in prison and Anthony Zahra to two months in prison.

Louise Zahra was given a two month prison sentence suspended for four years in view of her relatively clean conduct sheet and the fact that she is an advanced stage of pregnancy.

The accused were ordered to pay court costs.