Giosuè Gauci, 61 from Għargħur, who stands charged with the attempted murder of a man in Sliema on February 8, 2005, insisted in court yesterday that he never took a gun with him when he went to speak to Ronald Azzopardi.
Mr Gauci told the jurors that he owned a property on Windsor Terrace in Sliema right next to Windsor Hotel. "I decided to expand the hotel. That is when I went into business with Mr Azzopardi and when the Crown Hotel in St Paul's Bay came up for sale we decided to buy it in order to offer our customers an option".
He added that when restructuring work on the hotels was coming to an end the bills were rising rapidly. "Mr Azzopardi told me that he needed Lm100, 000".
The accused said that Mr Azzopardi told him that he had a Scottish investor who would lend him €4,660,000 (Lm2 million) in order to continue running the hotels. Mr Azzopardi asked Mr Gauci for €69,900 (Lm30,000) to begin the process in order to receive the money from the investor. "Mr Azzopardi told me that he would give me the money within two months but he never did... He gave me a cheque but it bounced".
Mr Gauci testified that on the day of the incident Mr Azzopardi told him that he had a tax bill to pay and so he wouldn't be able to pay him. "He produced a gun, I lunged forward and grabbed the gun from him and in the scuffle I pulled the trigger. I stood there in shock for a few seconds and then left the building".
Breaking into tears, he added that he called his brothers for advice immediately after the incident. "They told me that I should go to the (police) depot and that they would come with me. On the way to the depot with them we called the police and they told us to stop where we were and they picked us up".
Defence lawyer Matthew Brincat exhibited a broken watch, which Mr Gauci said came off his wrist during the scuffle.
When questioned about Mr Azzopardi's financial situation, Mr Gauci said that "the business must have been doing well, especially when Mr Azzopardi expressed an interest to buy my shares". He added: "I thought that he had money to pay or that he would get it one way or another but he just wouldn't pay me. I used to go every eight days for the money but I never received anything.
The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, lawyer Anthony Barbara asked Mr Gauci whether it was true that he had wished Mr Azzopardi well on New Year's Eve 2004 adding that he hoped it would not be his last year.
Mr Gauci denied this.
Dr Barbara then asked Mr Gauci: "If you possess a gun licence and you say that the gun belongs to Mr Azzopardi why did you throw it away?"
Mr Gauci replied: "I threw it away in fear. I had never been in such a situation before".
Denying Dr Barbara's allegations that he owned a gun and had taken it with him to the office, he added: "I went that day as I usually did but I did not take any weapon with me".
The jurors were taken to Sur Arturo Mercieca Street in Sliema at the side of the Diplomat Hotel where the office of Sovereign Hotels is situated. In the presence of Mr Justice Galea Debono, the jurors were shown around the office and given an idea of how the apartment is laid out and how the alleged incident played out.
Lawyers Matthew Brincat and Arthur Azzopardi are appearing for Mr Gauci.
Lawyers Michael Sciriha and Ian Farrugia appeared in parte civile.