Madliena man found not guilty of attempted murder

Anton Camilleri, 44, of Madliena was this afternoon declared not guilty of the attempted murder of his former employee Saviour Mangion on May 9, 2004.

He had been accused of shooting in the direction of Mr Mangion during an argument over the sale of a garage.

During the trial, which started on Monday, Mr Camilleri claimed that Mr Mangion punched him first and he retaliated. But he denied producing a weapon and firing any shots. Police witnesses said gunshot residue tests were negative.

Both Mr Mangion and his wife testified that Mr Camilleri ran to his car, produced a small triangular black pouch and pulled out a small gun.

But when testifying on Monday, Mr Camilleri said that, after a fight broke out between the two, he simply went to his car to fetch his diary and keys in order to get back into the house and not to get a gun.

Lawyers Jason Grima and Maurizio Cordina from the Attorney General's office prosecuted.

Lawyers Gianella Caruana Curran, Joseph Giglio and Stephen Tonna Lowell also appeared for Mr Camilleri.