The man who murdered Gozitan lawyer Michael Grech has had an appeal against his life sentence turned down by a court. 

David Zerafa, 42, had been sentenced to life behind bars in 2013 after a jury found that he had killed Dr Grech outside Marsalforn home on May 25, 2004. Dr Grech had at the time been representing Mr Zerafa's wife in separation proceedings. 

David Zerafa.

Jurors heard how Mr Zerafa shot Dr Grech outside his apartment at 10pm that day. A wounded Dr Grech ran down the stairs and onto the street, where Mr Zerafa caught up with him, dragged him to a nearby garage and proceeded to smash his head with a baseball bat. An accomplice believed to have been with Mr Zerafa at the time was never apprehended.

An 8-1 guilty verdict, arrived at after five hours of deliberations, was followed by a life sentence handed to Mr Zerafa by judge Lawrence Quintano. 

Nadur resident Mr Zerafa had appealed his sentence, with his lawyers arguing that various procedural mistakes had been made throughout the trial by jury, that his guilt had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the life sentence was excessively harsh. 

But an appeals court today rejected these arguments, noting that jurors had weighed the evidence before them and found the prosecution's more compelling than that of the defence.  

Jurors must also have not believed the testimony provided by two of Mr Zerafa's brothers, the appeals court also noted. The brothers had testified that Mr Zerafa was at home with them at the time Dr Grech was killed. 

During Mr Zerafa's trial, jurors were told that the victim's wife had twice identified Mr Zerafa as the killer in police line-ups, saying she recognised his almond-shaped eyes. 

The jury had also heard how the accused had spoken about his crime to two other people, giving them details which even the police had not known about.

In today's judgment, the appeals court argued that Mr Zerafa had been handed a life sentence because his crime was premeditated and cruel, as well as because of his history of previous convictions. 

The appeals court, led by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri along with judges David Scicluna and Joseph Zammit McKeon, therefore rejected Mr Zerafa's appeal and confirmed his life sentence.