One of the men who allegedly took part on the attempted hold-up of HSBC Centre in Qormi tried to hide the injury caused to his jaw by a bullet by claiming that he had been hit by a splinter while working with metal.
Two doctors and two receptionists at a private clinic gave evidence in court this morning during the compilation of evidence against Darren Debono, 33, and Vincent Muscat, 48, who have been charged with the attempted murder of two police constables when they attempted the hold-up on June 30.
John Zammit Montebello, a medical doctor, said that on July 1 he received a phone call from somebody - whom he did not know - asking to see him. The accused Darren Debono then turned up and he examined him at his private clinic.
He told the man that he appeared to have a foreign body in his jaw, and referred him to Da Vinci Hospital for an X-ray.
Mr Debono then returned with the X-rays to his clinic on the following morning at 9 a.m. accompanied by another man. A short time after they arrived, a number of policemen entered the clinic and arrested them.
Another doctor, Pierre Vassallo, said he had taken the X-ray of the accused at Da Vinci Hospital. The X-Ray revealed a foreign body in the soft tissue of the jaw of the accused. He gave the X-Rays to the accused, who was accompanied by three other men, and they left.
Anne Caruana, a receptionist at Da Vinci Hospital, said that four men, including one who was injured, had arrived at 8 p.m. as she was planning to leave. They said they had been referred by 'goofy' (Dr Zammit Montebello). She was, however, unable to identify the accused.
The injured person claimed he had been working with metal and been hit with a splinter.
She tried but could not reach the radiographer and Dr Vassallo carried out the X-Ray himself.
When she asked the injured man for his particulars, he said he did not have his ID card on him and did not know his ID card number. He gave his name as Joe Camilleri.
Ms Caruana said she then left and another receptionist Cathlene Schembri, took over. Ms Schembri also told the court that she could not identify the accused.