Benefit of the doubt favours man accused of attempted murder

A man was cleared of trying to kill his former employee yesterday after a court found that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Anton Camilleri, 44, of Madliena was cleared by Mr Justice Michael Mallia of the attempted murder of Saviour Mangion on May 9, 2004 and of being in possession of a weapon.

Mr Justice Mallia, who presided over his first trial by the Bench, said the Attorney General failed to prove that Mr Camilleri tried to shoot Mr Mangion. "The picture presented by the prosecution had a lot of gaps and was full of suppositions and probabilities."

The two men got into an argument sparked off by a disagreement over the sale of a garage by Mr Camilleri to Mr Mangion and over which the two had already signed a promise of sale.

Mr Mangion had called Mr Camilleri at 7 a.m. on Sunday, which also happened to be Mother's Day and later went to his house. An argument erupted outside Mr Camilleri's house.

While Mr Mangion and his wife Giovanna testified that Mr Camilleri ran to his car to get a small triangular pouch from which he produced a pistol, the accused denied it flatly, insisting he had simply gone to the car to fetch his keys to get back into the house.

Moreover, the versions of events as recounted by Mr Mangion and his wife differed because while the latter claimed Mr Camilleri had actually fired a shot at her husband, Mr Mangion could not recall hearing the shot or seeing any smoke coming out of the gun, as his wife had testified.

Mr Justice Mallia said Mrs Mangion's description of the weapon was not enough to convince the court beyond all moral doubt.

On being pronounced a free man, Mr Camilleri went outside to meet his wife Marianne. She burst into tears and hugged him tightly. Overcome by emotion, she started trembling and Mr Camilleri helped her sit down on a bench.

Mr Justice Mallia said the whole incident was sparked off by the Mangions' lack of judgment. Had they spoken to a notary, they would have realised that the loss of the promise of sale, which was at the centre of the argument, would not have affected their legal rights, he said.

Instead of remaining calm, Mrs Mangion made a huge fuss and instigated "an act of great impudence" and insisted with her husband until he called Mr Camilleri, the judge said.

Mr Camilleri had accepted to undergo gunshot residue tests, which did not result in any evidence that a gun had been fired.

As a result, Mr Justice Mallia said he could only base his decision on the different versions given by the Mangions and Mr Camilleri. But he pointed out that it was strange that Mr Mangion did not see any movement when Mr Camilleri fired the gun. The charge of attempted murder was only based on Mrs Mangion's version and was not corroborated by her husband or by any scientific evidence, he added.

Mr Camilleri was cleared of all the charges.

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

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