I did not pull the trigger, murder accomplice insists

An accomplice in a murder yesterday appealed against a 30-year-jail term on the grounds that he got the same treatment as the man who pulled the trigger.

George Pace, 55, was jailed after he had been found guilty in a trial by jury of being an accomplice in the cold-blooded murder of 66-year-old Nazzereno Ebejer in 1989 at L-Aħrax in Mellieħa.

The victim was shot twice at point blank range and stripped in a small room, which was usually used by hunters. The attackers thought he was carrying money as he used to brag about being rich.

In his appeal, Mr Pace said there was no evidence to support the prosecution's claim that he had known that the two other men involved, Michael Vella and Carmelo Sant, planned to kill Mr Ebejer.

Mr Vella died shortly after proceedings began against the men in 2004 and Mr Sant admitted to murder last month following Mr Pace's trial.

There was no "common design" between the men to shoot and kill the victim and Mr Pace's involvement was limited to the agreement to rob the victim and not to kill him, his defence lawyer claimed in the appeal.

Mr Pace criticised Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono's summing up to the jurors where he revised what had gone on in the trial and explained legal points.

He said the judge had placed a serious doubt in the minds of the jurors about his testimony. Mr Pace referred to one particular part of his testimony where he had explained what he had done when he realised that the men were going to murder Mr Ebejer.

This was a very delicate point in the testimony and it was not prudent for the judge to emphasise his opinion on such a crucial point, Mr Pace said.

The judge's opinion was given in a subtle way, where he said that Mr Pace could have easily stopped the murder if he wanted to, the defence lawyers said in their appeal.

The punishment imposed was not according to applicable law because the crime occurred in 1989 and, at the time, he could have faced, besides life imprisonment, 20 years in jail, the defence team said. After 1996 the term was raised from 20 to 30 years but the judge should have applied the law that was applicable at the time of the commission of the crime.

Besides these points, Mr Sant had a far worse criminal record than Mr Pace and was the one who pulled the trigger but still the two men were both jailed for the same crime, the defence team argued.

Lawyers Josè Herrera, Veronique Dalli and Chris Cardona signed the appeal.