Two 28-year-old men were last night charged with the murder of Mario Galea who died in Paceville in the early hours of Friday.
Joe Zahra and Gozitan Brian Cini, who both live in St Julian’s, were involved in an argument with Mr Galea and are accused of causing the 47-year-old hairdresser’s death.
The men, who appeared before Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna, pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody.
The lawyers of the accused requested the victim’s medical records be placed under the court’s jurisdiction, and that the accused be seen by a psychiatrist because of the state of shock they were in.
The incident happened in Paceville Avenue at 3.40 a.m. when a fight broke out between the three men. Mr Galea ended up sprawled in the middle of the road and was run over by taxi driver Robert Aquilina.
Investigators believe Mr Galea died before Mr Aquilina drove over him, but this will only be confirmed when the autopsy is concluded Tuesday.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Aquilina said it was of little solace to him whether the victim was dead or not before he accidentally drove over him – “I still ran over a man”.
Lawyers Michael Sciriha, Lucio Sciriha, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Giannella de Marco appeared for the accused. Police investigations were headed by Keith Arnaud.