Jurors in the trial of a man accused of being an accomplice in a shootout with the police today heard how a machine-gun used in the shooting had jammed, and how the police were warned that should they storm the house where two men and two women were holding out, it would be blown up.

The details were given by prosecutors at the opening of the trial of Mario Vella, 28 of Sta Venera, who is accused of being an accomplice in the shootout with policemen from a house in Mill street, Qormi, in the night of February 15-16, 2005. The stand-off ended after six hours, with the police having fired 34 teargas cannister into the house. No one was injured.
Dr Aron Bugeja, prosecuting, said that Marco Pace, known as il-Pinzell, had fired twice at the residence of his mother after she refused to let him garage a boat there.
 
He then went into his house, nearby, where he was accompanied by his friend Mario Vella and two women - Yanika Abdilla and Kelly Micallef.
When the police turned up to investigate the shooting, he opened fire at them from the roof.
Mario Vella did not actually shoot, but he assisted his friend, even handing ammunition to him.

Pace - who is himself awaiting trial - used a sawn-off shotgun and a machine-gun, but according to a police statement given by one of the women, the machine gun jammed after a few rounds.

The police had phoned Pace and tried to persuade him to surrender. He refused and repeatedly swore at the police. He also claimed there were eight people in the house; that he had Aids, and that he would blow up the house, using gas, should the police try to get in.

He also said it made no difference to him whether he was alive or dead.

The police eventually ended the standoff with teargas, but such was the amount of tear gas in the air that an inquiry could not even take place on the morrow.

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