Jurors in an attempted murder trial are expected to retire to deliberate this morning after closing arguments were made yesterday when defence and prosecution teams clashed over the motivation of the victim.

The accused, Ronnie Azzopardi, is pleading not guilty to trying to kill the brother of criminal Melchior Spiteri who, in turn, had murdered Mr Azzopardi’s brother, Jason, in 2001. Mr Spiteri is serving a 30-year jail term for the crime.

The victim, Jonathan Spiteri, was allegedly shot in the shoulder by someone on a motorcycle as he drove his car in Marsascala on January 5, 2003.

Lawyer Nadine Sant, from the Attorney General’s Office, said the victim had no reason why to name the accused as his aggressor. Furthermore, the victim was unequivocal in his recognition of the accused.

Defence lawyers Edward Gatt and Kris Busietta said the victim’s family wanted to eliminate the whole Azzopardi family in a feud between them, having got one member killed and trying to put another behind bars. The trial took an unexpected turn on Thursday when Police Superintendent Carmelo Magri informed Mr Justice Michael Mallia a crucial piece of evidence from the motorcycle the accused was allegedly riding when the shooting occurred could have been tampered with in a theft at the police compound in Pembroke.

However, according to a court expert’s earlier report, the detachable headlamp, alleged to have been lit when the motorcycle drove up to the victim’s car, had fallen off, so the court saw no reason to inform the jury of the superintendent’s suspicion.