(Adds details on compilations of evidence)
The body of murdered drug trafficker Mario Camilleri l-imnieħru was exhumed on Tuesday to settle a conflict between investigators and medical examiners on the cause of his death.
The police have independent declarations which state that Mr Camilleri died after he was shot at and proceeded with charges against two individuals on that basis.
However, medical examiners are insisting that the bullet that hit Mr Camilleri probably only grazed his head and did not penetrate the skull, which means that he would not have died from the shot, sources said. Instead, they put forward the theory that he may have died from a heart attack.
As a result, the inquiring Magistrate Doreen Clark has asked to have a second opinion through a re-examination of the body.
The development comes after l-imnieħru, 51, and his 21-year-old son Mario Jnr were buried on Saturday, less than 36 hours after they were discovered partly buried in a shallow grave in field in Qajjenza, Birżebbuġia.
The heat and the fact that they were buried in manure from a cow farm next door accelerated the bodies’ decomposition, complicating the autopsy.
Police sources said the lightning speed with which the two men were buried was very unusual.
Investigators acted quickly on the case, partly on the basis of intelligence surrounding the family, which was well known to the police, and partly on the basis of declarations that were extracted during the probe. However, the divergent views on the cause of death makes the quick release of the body all the more unusual.
Still, criminal lawyers who spoke to timesofmalta.com said the issue is unlikely to have much import on the case. “If Camilleri died of heart failure rather than head trauma, it would have to be proven in court that one had nothing to do with the other for the issue to have any impact on the charges,” the source said.
The first suspect charged in connection with the murder of the Camilleris was 38-year-old Jason Galea (Mario snr’s brother-in-law), who was arraigned on Friday, less than 24 hours after the bodies were discovered.
George Galea, 41, faced similar charges on Tuesday, while his half brother Ronald Urry and Jason Galea were separately charged with the murder of Matthew Zahra, who had gone missing last year.
The compilation of evidence against Jason Galea and Mr Urry over the murder of Mr Zahra starts in front of Magistrate Edwina Grima on Monday.
That against Jason Galea and George Galea over the murder of the Camilleris starts in front of Magistrate Anthony Micallef Trigona on Wednesday.
Police believe that bones and a foot discovered at the site where the Camilleris were buried belonged to Zahra but DNA tests establishing this are still on the way.
Even in this case, police were acting partly on information given to them by l- imnieħru's widow Mona Camilleri, who told Times of Malta that she told police “something she had heard” about his disappearance.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com
Correction
The story which appeared today on the front page of Times of Malta entitled ‘Hunt for Second Double Murder Suspect’ was printed by mistake due to a technical error.
The item had already appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta. The police have since arraigned the second suspect in this case. The above story is the one that should have been published.
We apologise wholeheartedly for the error and for any inconvenience caused.