The man who stands charged with murdering his former partner in Mġarr two years ago told the police that he never meant to hurt her but simply wanted to scare her when he fired a shotgun in her direction.

Taking the witness stand, Police Inspector Daniel Zammit said Kenneth Gafa, 39, of Marsa, told him he thought Christine Sammut was in her van with a member of her family when he decided to fire.

He said he left the scene at a run because he wanted to scare her.

Mr Gafa was granted bail in August after being held under preventive arrest since December 2010. He is charged with the murder of Ms Sammut by shooting her in the neck and chest in Żebbiegħ as she sat in the driver’s seat of a van.

The inspector said Mr Gafa told the police he had been in a relationship with her for 15 months but they had broken up six months before the incident.

He claimed he owed money to her father and other members of her family and they would regularly threaten him. So when he thought he saw her sitting with a family member in the van he decided to shoot.

He had spotted the van while on an errand to pick up some wooden pallets and followed it.

He claimed he was outside his car when he fired the shots but the inspector said CCTV footage showed he was still inside it.

As the sitting drew to a close, defence lawyer Giannella de Marco asked Magistrate Anthony Vella to reduce the amount of bail deposit that Mr Gafa had been ordered to pay. At €15,000, she said, it was far beyond the means of her client, who had also been requested to make a personal guarantee of €25,000.

The case continues.