A man standing trial for attempted murder yesterday claimed he was being framed by the alleged victim's wife who had invented the whole incident.

"He punched me first and I punched him back but that's it. I never had any weapons and never fired at anyone. I don't know why his wife invented this story," Anton Camilleri said in his trial by the Bench.

Mr Camilleri's wife accused the police of putting pressure on her to admit to the non-existent crime.

Mr Camilleri, 44, of Madliena denies trying to kill Saviour Mangion, his former employee, on May 9, 2004. He is also pleading not guilty to being in possession of a weapon.

The prosecution claims Mr Camilleri pointed a small gun at Mr Mangion and tried to shoot him in an argument on Mother's Day of 2004 in front of Mr Camilleri's house.

When he testified on Monday, Mr Mangion said he had seen Mr Camilleri point a gun at him but admitted he did not hear anything or see a flash or smoke, as his wife Giovanna claims to have witnessed.

Mr Mangion pointed out that he was partially deaf from one ear but defence lawyer Gianella Caruana Curran highlighted the fact that he had been standing just a few metres away from her client.

Both Mr Mangion and his wife testified that Mr Camilleri ran to his car, produced a small triangular black pouch and pulled out a small gun.

But when testifying on Monday, Mr Camilleri said that, after a fight broke out between the two, he simply went to his car to fetch his diary and keys in order to get back into the house and not to get a gun.

"I don't have these weapons. This is a frame-up," he told the court.

The couple testified that the accused had aimed the gun at Mr Mangion and Mrs Mangion added that he fired a shot. She said she saw smoke coming out of the gun and saw something fall out of it, adding that the accused only missed her husband because Mrs Camilleri intervened and pushed her husband's arm up at the last minute.

The argument was about papers related to the sale of a garage by the accused to the victim.

The victim called the accused at 7 a.m. on a Sunday demanding to be given back a copy of the promise-of-sale agreement for the garage, the court heard.

The phone call, according to Mr Camilleri, was a rude awakening: "Sunday is the only day when I can sleep in a bit and I was woken by the phone. Saviour told me he wanted the papers and started shouting. I heard his wife in the background shouting: 'Tell him to give them to us today'," he said.

Mr Mangion had demanded the papers on previous days but, seeing it was Mother's Day and a Sunday, Mr Camilleri told Mr Mangion he did not have time to look for the papers and meet him. But after Mass, Mr Mangion drove to Mr Camilleri's house and waited for him to return and the argument ensued.

Mr Camilleri admitted owning a hunting shotgun that he kept loaded on top of a wardrobe in a disused bedroom but not a small pistol as described by the Mangions. Moreover, he added, "It would never cross my mind to shoot someone over something so petty".

He pointed out that he had voluntarily undergone gunshot residue tests to establish that he had not shot a gun. "I told the police to go ahead because I wanted the truth to come out."

He could not understand why the Mangions had invented such lies about him and stuck to their version for the past six years. "I ask myself why this woman doesn't stop lying about me."

In her testimony, Mr Camilleri's wife Marianne said she tried to calm her husband down when she saw the two men come to blows. "I never saw anyone fight and was afraid, so I started tugging Anton to calm him down," she said.

After the incident, she said, the police were trying to pressure her into admitting that her husband had fired at Mr Mangion. "I told the inspector to send my husband to a mental hospital if he really said he had fired a shot."

Mrs Camilleri said the police tried to "brainwash" her but she refused to give in. "All I want is for the truth to come out. There is only one: My husband never held a weapon or fired one."

Lawyers Jason Grima and Maurizio Cordina from the Attorney General's office prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Stephen Tonna Lowell also appeared for Mr Camilleri.