An argument between two farmers over a rubble wall exploded into violence and one of them ended up with 80 pellets in his body which penetrated practically every vital organ, a court heard yesterday.

He was standing in an alleyway between two fields and as he jumped into his own land he heard the sound of a gunshot and fell to the ground

The full extent of the injuries suffered by Joseph Mifsud emerged yesterday during the trial by Bench of Mariano Grixti, 49, of Żurrieq who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill both Mr Mifsud and his 15-year-old son Redeemer in October, 2005.

According to the victims, the accused was trying to rebuild a rubble wall that bordered their property in the area known as il-Qortin in Żurrieq. They protested and in the ensuing argument he lost his temper and fired shots at them.

Mr Mifsud said he was shot three times in the back while his son was shot once.

In a police statement, the accused claimed that it was Mr Mifsud and his son, who went by the nickname ta’ Xkubett, who first attacked him. They threw him against the wall and onto the ground and he only acted in self defence, he said.

Taking the witness stand, Mr Mifsud said he was unemployed at the time and had gone to pick up his son from school, from where they made their way to the field.

When they arrived the accused was removing the foundations of the boundary wall and he told him to stop, otherwise he was going to tell the owner of the field (which was rented).

He was standing in an alleyway between the two fields and as he jumped back into his own land he heard the sound of a gunshot and fell to the ground.

The next thing he knew, he heard the accused asking “are you still alive?” and another shot went off and then another. A fourth shot, he said, hit his son.

He got up, staggered across the field and called out to a neighbour, Żeppi, who sought help.

At the field, investigators found five spent cartridges spread out in three different areas.

Also testifying yesterday was Ġuzeppi Zahra, who said he was in his field when he heard gunshots and Redeemer Mifsud came running asking for help. He was covered in blood and shortly afterwards he saw the father who was also badly injured, Mr Zahra said.

He described the victim as being a vindictive person because, even though he had helped him, Mr Mifsud had done things to him for no reason.

Only recently, he had thrown grease oil into his well.

Mr Zahra also claimed the victim had filed two false police reports about him.

The trial is expected to draw to a close tomorrow.