Two-year suspended sentence for elderly man involved in Mosta shooting

Ċikku Fenech was yesterday given a suspended jail term in a trial which started as an attempted murder case but ended up with him being found guilty of the illegal possession of a revolver and firing the gun in an inhabited area.

The 71-year-old's trial by jury for the attempted murder of 45-year-old John Pace was meant to start on Tuesday but, in an unusual twist right before it began, the Attorney General withdrew the most serious charge - that of attempted murder - as he is allowed to do by law. No reason was given why the Attorney General decided to do so.

Mr Fenech admitted to the firearm charges yesterday.

The incident goes back to May 2003 when, as a dispute over land ownership flared, Mr Pace jumped over a rubble wall into a field which forms part of Mr Fenech's house in Mosta and began firing a double barrelled shotgun in his direction. After taking shelter behind a metal drum, Mr Fenech produced a revolver he had hidden in a green plastic fruit crate and fired back.

In 2008, the courts ordered Mr Pace to vacate the disputed field.

Mr Pace had been tried over the shooting. He was acquitted of attempted murder but jailed for 21 months for firing a gun in a public place and for carrying a firearm illegally.

In yesterday's judgment, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo said that the circumstances of the case indicated that, although Mr Fenech had acted in self-defence, he was in possession of the gun prior to the incident. Thus, he was found guilty of the illegal possession of a firearm and firing it in an inhabited area.

The judge said he considered the fact that Mr Fenech had helped the police and admitted his involvement and also that the crime occurred when he was defending himself.

However, the court noted that Mr Fenech had not handed over the revolver to the police.

The judge also took the man's age into account, his state of health, his criminal record, which is free from conviction for the past 12 years, and handed down a nine-month jail term suspended for two years.

Lawyer Joe Mifsud appeared for Mr Fenech.