The wife and children of murder victim Paul Degabriele, Is-Suldat, have appealed their loss of a libel suit against newspaper Il-Mument over an article that described him as a dangerous criminal.
Anna Maria, Nadesh and Ryan Degabriele called on the Appeals Court to overturn a previous court decision that found the description justified in the context of Mr Degabriele’s criminal record, with its “never-ending” list of offences and convictions from when he was just 15 years old.
In their appeal they said that the magistrate was “prejudicial” and that the judgment was based on “subjective opinion”. They said the first court’s judgment was “the fruit of the court’s imagination”.
The Degabrieles said if it was justified to describe Mr Degabriele as a dangerous criminal, then what is the description fitting the person or people who killed him and who has not yet been found?
They complained that the front page article in Il-Mument on June 16, 2013, two weeks after he was shot dead, had implicated him in high-profile murders over the previous months.
Mr Degabriele, 48, of Fgura, was gunned down outside Sammy’s Bar in Belt il-Ħazna Road, Marsa, on May 31, 2013, by an unknown man who fled the scene in a stolen white Nissan Vannette driven by his accomplice.
Mr Degabriele had just stepped out of the bar and was sitting in his Toyota pickup when he was shot three times in the head and twice in his upper body. A semi-automatic 9mm pistol was used, according to the police.
In October 2012, Mr Degabriele had reported to the police that a bomb had been placed under the Toyota. The device was safely detonated by ordnance experts.
Two months later he was among those questioned about the murder of Joseph Cutajar, or Il-Lion, who was found dead in his car in Mosta a few hours after Josef Grech, 41, or Il-Yo Yo, had been fatally shot in the head in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.
Mr Degabriele had been released without being charged.
Magistrate Francesco Depas-quale earlier this month threw out their libel case, saying Mr Degabriele’s criminal record contained a “never-ending” list of convictions for crimes ranging from breaching the peace, with his participation in various fights, to theft of cars and jewellery.
He was convicted of crimes in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1994, 1995, 2002 and 2006.
Lawyer Roberto Montalto signed the appeal.