Man shot in Safi
Police probe possible links with 1999 heroin case
A man waiting for the appeals court to hear his case after he was found guilty of supplying heroin to a friend was shot as he left his home in Safi early yesterday morning and is in critical condition.
Among the theories being considered, investigators are working on the possibility that Mario Magri could have been shot by someone who feared he could implicate third parties during the appeal proceedings.
Mr Magri, a 32-year-old construction worker, had just left his parents' house in Qerd in-Naħal Street shortly before 6 a.m. when he was shot twice in the stomach with a shotgun as he was about to get into his blue Skoda Favorit.
He was rushed to hospital where his condition was found to be critical. Neighbours said they were shocked at what had happened. They knew the victim as a quiet man.
They told the police that they had heard two shots fired in quick succession some time before 6 a.m. and then what sounded like a motorcycle speeding off.
The shooting occurred across the road from a bring-in site which, unlike many others, is unfortunately not monitored by CCTV, which could have been useful in shedding light on the case.
In October 2006, Mr Magri was jailed for three years and fined €4,659 after a court found him guilty of providing a fatal dose of heroin to Adolph Farrugia, 21, in August 1999.
The police had not suspected Mr Magri's involvement straightaway but some years later another man indicated the accused as the person who provided the heroin.
The court had heard how Mr Magri, who was 22 at the time, had been drug-free for a year since the incident and had become an exemplary employee. Mr Magri appealed the judgment.
Police sources said they were not ruling out anything, not even that the perpetrator/s could have been related to the 1999 case.
A magisterial inquiry is underway.