A judge this morning turned down calls for a trial to be dismissed after a witness linked the accused to another case and claimed that he had wanted to place a bomb under her car.

The controversy arose during the second day of the trial of Ronnie Azzopardi, who is accused of the attempted murder of Jonathan Spiteri on January 5, 2003 in Marsascala.

The prosecution is saying that the shooting was in revenge for the murder, two years earlier, of Jason Azzopardi by Melchior Spiteri.

The accused is the brother of Jason Azzopardi while his alleged victim is Melchior Spiteri's brother.

Mary Rose Cassar said the accused had threatened her and her children. She said that someone had placed a bomb under her car and she was alerted to the fact that the accused wanted to place a bomb under her car.

Defence counsel Edward Gatt protested that anything which allegedly happened after the crime in question before the jury could not be said.

He noted that the Court yesterday had cautioned about such things.

What the witness had spoken about was sub-judice in another case, and the accused was being prejudiced.

Dr Gatt called for the court to declare the trial dissolved as a bad light had been cast on the accused through something which was distinct from the charges which the accused faced.

Prosecutor Nadine Sant said legal reasons were needed for a trial to be dismissed. The law did not control the witness.

The judge said that he did not agree with the prosecution and there was no legal base for the trial to be called off. The court after hearing the submissions and also after having heard the witness Mary Rose Cassar, felt that there were elements of hearsay in her testimony. The court had immediately stopped her and warned her that certain declarations could not be mentioned.

The judge said he would explain the rule of hearsay evidence to the jurors but the court felt that the prejudice was not that serious as to warrant the dismissal of the trial.