Shop owner recalls being shot while chasing thief

A shop owner recounted in court yesterday how, after being robbed at gun point, he chased the hooded assailant down the road and noted the getaway car's registration number, even after he was shot in the arm.

Charles Zammit's fearlessness could have cost him his life but it also led the police to the arrest of two men now being charged with the hold-up on his mobile phone shop in Psaila Street, Birkirkara.

Mr Zammit testified that he was in his shop on April 13 when a hooded man, armed with a revolver, walked in at about 6.30 p.m. and ordered him to move into a nearby room, off the shop floor. He obeyed but only after the thief fired a shot at the wall. While in the room, he heard the thief rummage through the shop and then leave. He had taken what Mr Zammit later found out was a puny booty: a lap top and three mobile phones.

The shop owner gave chase and was shot at repeatedly before being hit in the left arm. That did not stop Mr Zammit from having a good look at the registration number of the green Hyundai Accent he saw the thief hopping on.

The car, with a driver inside, had been idle on the side of the road.

The shopkeeper was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where he spent two days. The police showed him a series of photographs and he indicated 24-year-old Jonathan Coleiro as the man who shot him and 22-year-old Matthew Mizzi as the driver of the getaway car.

Both stand charged with attempted murder and complicity respectively.

Mr Coleiro is undergoing separate proceedings on charges of stealing over €2,239 worth of electronic equipment.

Mr Zammit was giving evidence before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli in the complication of evidence against the Mr Mizzi.

The 22-year-old had come to the attention of the police on the same day of the hold-up after he filed a report at the Msida police station claiming he was made to take part in the hold-up at gun point.

According to Police Inspector Keith Arnaud, who also testified yesterday, Mr Mizzi claimed he was parked in Birkirkara, waiting for a girlfriend, when a hooded man got into his Hyundai and ordered him to drive off at gun point. He told the police he knew little of the girl he was waiting for other than her name.

When called in for questioning, he initially insisted he had nothing to do with the case but then changed his version when he saw a picture of Mr Coleiro in the police files, Inspector Arnaud said.

Mr Mizzi said that on the day, Mr Coleiro asked him for a lift to Birkirkara to run an errand. Once there, Mr Coleiro told him to stop the car by the side of the road and wait for him but returned wearing a balaclava.

Mr Mizzi said he did not want to have any part in what Mr Coleiro had been up to and ordered him out of the car in Msida.

The officer said Mr Mizzi eventually changed his version again and said Mr Coleiro had asked him to drop him off in Msida.

Whatever the case, the balaclava was found by the side of the road in Msida.

The two were eventually confronted during interrogation. Mr Mizzi insisted he knew nothing about the hold-up but Mr Coleiro remained silent. Later, he told police that Mr Mizzi not only knew about the hold-up but actually provided the gun.

Mr Coleiro told the police he had accepted to carry out the hold-up because he felt pressured because he owed Mr Mizzi money. The two were eventually arraigned separately in connection with the hold-up.

At the end of the sitting, Magistrate Demicoli ruled there were sufficient reasons for Mr Mizzi's indictment.

Police Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kevin Farrugia prosecuted.

Lawyer Kris Busiettta appeared for Mr Mizzi.