The man charged with murdering his father-in-law had also helped a woman with whom he was having an affair to murder her husband, a court heard today.

Gregorio Scicluna, 53, from Kalkara, is pleading not guilty to murdering Joseph Caruana in October last year, trying to murder his ex-wife, Maria Simone Caruana, 27, their five-year-old daughter Yasmin and three-year-old Shania.

He was granted bail by Magistrate Josette Demicoli two weeks ago, against a personal guarantee of €30,000 and a deposit of €30,000 but remained behind bars because the deposit is so high.

The prosecution is insisting that bail should be revoked because of the -colourful' history of the accused.

Mr Scicluna is also pleading not guilty to seriously injuring Ms Caruana and Shania who are still in hospital after they were hit by gunshot pellets fired at close range.

The Attorney General’s Office is arguing that  considering his colourful criminal past, Mr Scicluna should not have been granted bail since he could very easily re-offend.

In the appeal, lawyer Philip Galea Farrugia, from the Attorney General’s Office highlighted how some 20 years ago, the accused had been found guilty of aiding a woman to shoot dead her husband. Mr Scicluna had an affair with the woman before giving her the revolver which she used to shoot her husband.

Dr Galea Farrugia also pointed out how Mr Scicluna had convictions for sex offences, a number of which involved minors.

He said that the accused was very untrustworthy and seemed to have learnt nothing from his previous convictions but rather the opposite where the crimes became more serious, culminating with the murder of Mr Caruana.

His young daughters witnessed the murder of their grandfather while one of them suffered injuries after being hit with gunshot pellets from the shotgun fired by the accused. Not only did he shoot his father-in-law dead but he then used the butt of the gun to smash him over the head, Dr Galea Farrugia said.

While the presumption of innocence was a cardinal rule of law and that bail should be granted, this was a particular case where bail should not have been granted.