Updated - Birkirkara shooting: Accused found not guilty of attempted murder
Convicted of causing grievous bodily harm
The scene of the shooting in Birkirkara.
Nazzareno Briffa, 49 of Birkirkara, was this afternoon found not guilty of the attempted murder of Peter Borg on July 22, 2009.
He was, however, convicted of causing grievous bodily harm when he shot Borg outside his farmhouse. The jurors found that Briffa had acted because of a sudden passion at a time when he was not in the right frame of mind.
Judgement will be handed down on Tuesday by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano
The verdict was delivered after a week-long trial by jury.
The jurors had heard how the two argued in a bar and Briffa then went home, grabbed a shotgun and went to Borg's farm on the Birkirkara by-pass. He shot twice at a Banif billboard and then shot Briffa when he came out to see what the noise was about, seriously injuring him in the head.
During pleas on punishment, defence lawyer Edward Gatt and prosecuting lawyer Maurizio Cardona disagreed on which article of the law applied in this case.
While the defence said that the punishment could not exceed six months imprisonment, the prosecution argued that Briffa may be imprisoned for two thirds of the punishment for grievous bodily harm. (six years instead of nine years).
Dr Gatt pleaded for clemency, saying the court should consider that his client had been provoked. He appealed to the court not to impose an effective jail term.
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Lee Micallef
Oct 8th 2012, 11:34
Once again a laughable conclusion !
Brian Gatt
Oct 8th 2012, 10:56
Agree or disagree with the court's desicion it was a job well done by the defence attorneys Dr Edward Gatt and Dr Chris Cardona.
J Degabriele
Oct 7th 2012, 11:35
So shooting somebody in the head is no longer attempted murder? What should one do then to be accused of attempted murder?
M Sciberras
Oct 7th 2012, 10:46
Wow. I get into an argument in a bar. I am 'provoked' (whatever that is supposed to mean) and storm home to fetch my gun. I then go to the provocateur's residence and after taking pot shots at a billboard I shoot the guy in the head. Yet the jury considers this is a 'sudden' fit of passion, when it must have lasted hours - long enough to be premeditated attempted murder in any one's books. The jury system on occasion delivers miscarriages of justice and this appears to be one of them. I hope there will be an appeal. We have fits of passion occurring regularly in Malta and this case sends a very wrong message to the monkeys out there, be they hunters assaulting CABS officials, road rage blinded motorists assaulting other drivers and regular bar brawls.
J Degabriele
Oct 7th 2012, 08:15
Since when is shooting someone in the head not attempted murder? What does one have to do to attempt murder then?
Ramon Casha
Oct 6th 2012, 17:40
Going home and returning with a shotgun does not sound very sudden to me.
John Dee
Oct 7th 2012, 10:39
Spot on!
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