The businessman who was shot in Valletta just over a month ago by an unidentified motorcyclist succumbed to his injuries on Monday night as his family vowed to keep his memory and business alive.

A father of five, Joe Baldacchino, 51, was shot in broad daylight on November 23 and remained in hospital until he died.

A family source yesterday thanked the police for their cooperation and said the funeral would take place tomorrow at 3.30 p.m. at the Żurrieq parish church.

“We will never forget him. But we have to start a new life and our business must continue as usual. If someone thought they would bring down the business, they were wrong,” the family source, who preferred to remain un­named, said.

Mr Baldacchino was the managing director of the Baldacchino Group, which also owns the Kempinski San Lawrenz Hotel in Gozo.

His mafia-style assassination attempt took place near Hastings Garden, Valletta, where he had just parked his car and noticed a motorcyclist had dropped his number plate. According to witnesses, Mr Baldacchino unwittingly informed his aggressor about the fallen number plate. The motorcyclist nodded, drove up behind Mr Baldacchino, unzipped his jacket, produced a firearm and shot him in the back.

After the shooting, Mr Baldacchino’s condition fluctuated but took a turn for the worse over the past days, slipping into a coma until he died in the intensive care.

Suffering from severe internal bleeding, he was never healthy enough for the police to question him. Although an inquiry is ongoing, no one has been charged yet.

Mr Baldacchino is said to have been involved in about 40 court cases related to property and business interests, leaving the police with a long list of potential suspects.

Investigators are also looking into a previous attempt on Mr Baldacchino’s life when a parcel bomb was left on his car’s tyre about two years ago. The bomb never exploded. He was not known to have received any other death threats since.

On the day of the shooting, he was heading for the courts to appear in a case against a former business partner. His frequent visits to the court made him “very predictable and easy to find”, according to sources.

The Malta Developers Association, of which Mr Baldacchino was a founding member, yesterday sent its condolences to his family and deplored the “brutal assault on his life”.