A Syrian has been jailed for 28 years for beating a fellow countryman to death with a hammer three years ago, after which he placed the body in a car and pushed it down a hillside in Selmun.

Ibrahim Alhmou, 28, yesterday admitted to killing Ismail Abod, 29, after they got into a fight over money.

The murder took place on the night of July 29, 2007. At around 9 p.m., Mr Alhmou had asked the victim to meet him near the Bank of Valletta branch in Msida and made sure that he turned up by offering him a job, the Attorney General said in the bill of indictment.

On meeting, the two men sat and chatted in a white Ford escort van owned by Mr Abod. At one point the murderer asked the victim for €465 which he owed him in rent, having already received €1,165 from him.

The meeting escalated into an argument and Mr Alhmou got out of the car and asked the other man to wait there while he got into his own car. When the victim saw this he drove off with his aggressor in hot pursuit.

The men finally came to a stop at the cliffs of Selmun where the argument reignited. Mr Alhmou grabbed a hammer and hit Mr Abod on the back of the head.

He dragged the body into the van where he continued to strike blows with the hammer and pushed the vehicle over the steep Selmun hillside. He then clambered down to look for the murder weapon but did not manage to find it, the Attorney General said. Mr Alhmou drove back to his apartment, washed his clothes to remove the blood, threw away his blood-soaked T-shirt and went to sleep.

The police were led to Mr Alhmou after Carmela Buhagiar, the victim’s partner, phoned them to report that he had gone missing.

In a statement to the police, Mr Alhmou admitted to killing the man with a hammer.

In jailing the accused for 28 years, Mr Justice Michael Mallia took into consideration the plea bargain between the Attorney General and the defence team.