Waylon Johnston
Man weeps as he is jailed for 25 years over shooting
Two men who were shot at in a fit of rage welcomed a 25-year jail term given to their attacker yesterday.
“Justice has been done,” Joseph and Redeemer Mifsud said moments after their lawyers emerged from the courtroom relaying the verdict.
Inside, Mariano Grixti, from Żurrieq, who shot the two men in October, 2005 following an argument over a rubble wall, sat motionless. After glancing at his wife sitting in the public gallery, he rested his head on his folded arms and started crying.
The 50-year-old later felt sick and had to remove his jacket and tie as he came to terms with the heavy jail term.
Mr Justice Michael Mallia rejected Mr Grixti’s claim that he had acted in self defence and said that nobody of normal temperament would shoot someone with a semi-automatic shotgun only because they had thrown stones.
On the day of the incident, Mr Grixti was building a rubble wall in his rented field in the area known as Il-Qortin, Żurrieq. He had taken his shotgun hoping he could do some hunting.
Joseph Mifsud approached him, claiming the wall was encroaching on his property and demanding that the work would stop. This led to an argument.
The shouting attracted the attention of Mr Mifsud’s 15-year-old son, Redeemer, who walked over to see what was going on.
At that point, according to the evidence Mr Mifsud gave during the trial, he was hit in the back by pellets as he was walking away from the argument and he fell down.
His son told the court that he heard Mr Grixti ask his father whether he was still alive and then shooting him again before turning and firing at him too. Mr Grixti claimed that the Mifsuds threw stones at him and that he was overcome with fear.
Mr Justice Mallia said that Mr Grixti could not hide behind excuses of self defence because the hard evidence pointed in the opposite direction. He noted that Mr Mifsud Snr had been shot in the back and that the cartridges lifted from the crime scene indicated that the accused kept moving forward as he shot his victims.
Mr Grixti’s criminal record showed that in the past he had been found guilty of threatening his sister and his mother, a person who is so often the dearest and closest person to anyone. About 80 pellets had penetrated Mr Mifsud’s body hitting every vital organ except the brain. As a result he suffered a permanent disability and was unable to use his hands properly due to the damage done to the ligaments and the muscles of his arms, Mr Justice Mallia added.
Lawyer Phillip Galea Farrugia from the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Charmaine Cherrett appeared for the victims.
Lawyer Joe Brincat was defence counsel.
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J Galea
Feb 10th, 20:00
Justice DELAYED is Justice DENIED.
Karl Consiglio
Feb 10th, 15:01
What annoys me is that this was back in 2005, justice should have been served back then, i don't like how he is being punished for something he had done five years ago, maybe since then he had already reformed.
Peter Murray
Feb 10th, 21:38
Oh that s ok then as time heals all wounds and is a possible reformation mitigating circumstance and forgiveness issue.What planet are you from?
Francis Grech
Feb 10th, 13:55
This unfortunate incident took 7 whole years to be resolved in the mean time was the accused being held in jail or on bail, because if he was on bail how come it took 7 years to get to the criminal court ,personally I think that sending a person to 25 years to jail after waiting 7 years is a bit to harsh watching the video on line hardly there is nothing very much wrong with the person that was shown on it ,by sending a person to 25 years in jail as a detriment to others is not going to solve anything,is there no limit how long a person has to stay in jail before he can apply for parole or we havn't come that far with our archaic laws.
Maria Gauci
Feb 10th, 12:36
He shot in self defence and this is what he got !! Malta court isn t fair at all .. someone who deserves too much time in prison gets little and this man got too much for what he has done ! This is Malta .. if theres someone who did something really bad and deserves life in prison gets a 5 year sentence and with this man they are going to do a show ! Ooh pls come on !!!!!
Darby Allen
Feb 10th, 14:58
The court didn't accept the self-defence claim because it was clearly untrue. You cannot be said to be defending yourself if you shoot someone who is walking away from you; you cannot claim self-defence if you shoot an unarmed person who has already been felled; and you cannot claim self-defence if you then shoot at a witness!
Wally Vella-Zarb
Feb 10th, 15:29
Did you read what was written? Mr Justice Mallia ruled out self-defence and for good reason. You don't shoot someone in the back and then repeatedly shoot him again 'in self-defence'.
R Bartolo
Feb 10th, 15:45
@Mr Zarb - quoting you - "Did you read what was written?"
Come now, surely that is not necessary to be in a position to comment...
Maria Gauci
Feb 10th, 16:10
Mr Allen and Mr Zarb if u read all other articles about this case from the begining you will know the exact truth. I'm not saying he should be free of course because he shot them but not this heavy term sentence, after 6 years! It's non sense!!
Peter Murray
Feb 10th, 21:41
Didn't realise you was there at he time of the shooting Maria .It's strange though why you didn't make this fact known to the police or the judge as your testimony would have been vital?
Maria Gauci
Feb 11th, 10:42
@ Peter Murray. I wasn't there on that particular day.. I read other articles about this case and they said that a witness that was there and helped them testified in court and said also that the victims did harm to him as well like putting oil in his well.. so Mario wasn't the only person that they did harm.. you're only seeing that he shot them! yes he done something really wrong and he shouldn't have done it but 25 years for this case is too much because he didn't kill them or put them in a wheelchair!! And of course they don't have to pay nothing! so everybody can do harm to other people and do really bad things to others and then after if something happens to them they are the victims!! ooh pls!
Franco Farrugia
Feb 11th, 15:07
@ Maria Gauci: What can one say? Get yourself suitably qualified to become a judge, then.
Maria Gauci
Feb 12th, 13:32
@ Franco .. I'm only saying what I and everybody read here ! Everybody has a different opinion. So for you two persons throwing stones at someone isn't an attempt to kill ?? He couldn't throw stones at them because in the video Mifsud said that he removed the stone from Mario hands so he couldn't do anything at that time and they began to throw stones at him. So for you this is nothing ? In my opinion he acted back and defended himself with the gun. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do , because a person can't shoot at somebody else and of course he has to serve time in prison but in my opinion not 25 years as in other articles said that they throwed stones at him before and that they did harm to other people in that area too. In my opinion they have to serve some time too because they did some bad things too! .. It's just my opinion Mr Franco !!
Patrick Micallef
Feb 10th, 12:19
ohh pls !! if you dont know the person and the case well shut up !!!!!
James Dimech
Feb 10th, 09:44
Good. Let this serve as a lesson to all those hot headed cowboys who carry weapons and think they can always have their way by threatening and bullying people
Anthony Formosa
Feb 10th, 10:30
Mr Dimech, anything can be used as a weapon to threaten another. The last two persons killed they used a kitchen knife mostly used by women, by the same reasoning that lesson should also serve to those hot headed cowgirls? Comments like yours can do more harm than a weapon.
Peter Murray
Feb 10th, 11:11
Fao-Anthony Formosa
How precisely can comments do more harm than ANY weapon used irrespective of gender using them\?Unless you adopt the principle of the pen being mightier than the sword or gun or knife etc.,the cowardly accused was probably blubbering as he would in all probability have received the same sentence for actually successfully carrying out the crime for which he was acused.
James Dewar
Feb 10th, 11:34
Despite Mr Formosa apparently splitting hairs as to the content of your comment, I agree entirely and hopefully other right - thinking people will also agree. Quite clearly this should serve as a warning to any person who chooses to use "weapons" of any type to intimidate, threaten, pressurise or bully others . The nature of the weapon or gender of the perpetrator are irrelevant.
James Dimech
Feb 10th, 11:48
Dear Mr Formosa, by all means, anything can be used as a weapon. And, yes this should also be true for cowgirls. But we have had enough of people who own weapons and who cannot control their temper - such as those who carry a knife in their car in case it comes in handy during a road rage incident. Or farmers and hunters who tend to threaten with shotguns. Or youths who go to Paceville with knives. Sirna ma tista tkellem lil hadd, anqas jekk ghandek ragun
Franco Farrugia
Feb 11th, 10:20
Mr Formosa, by itself, by its very nature, a 'weapon' is just that and is used for violence. Nothing more, nothing less. Very clear!