The businessman who was shot last month took a turn for the worse this week, his son told timesofmalta.com.

“He woke up from the coma and was well for a period of time, but at the beginning of this week he lost consciousness again,” Joe Baldacchino’s son, Maurizio, said yesterday.

The son, who sounded as though there was little hope to be had, said everything was in Jesus’ hands.

Asked about whether the family will be spending Christmas next to his father, Mr Baldacchino said this was not possible as he was in the Intensive Therapy Unit.

Mr Baldacchino, the owner of the Kempinski San Lawrenz Hotel in Gozo, has remained in hospital since he was shot in broad daylight on November 23 by a motorcyclist in a dark helmet in Hastings Garden, Valletta.

The father of five suffered severe internal bleeding after sustaining a shot in the left side of his back soon after he parked his car.

Although an inquiry is ongoing, no person has been charged as yet.