A 42-year-old man has been jailed for six years and six months for being an accomplice in the dramatic attempted hold-up on a Valletta jewellery in 2010.
Jason Galea, of Birżebbuga, was found guilty of taking part in the early-morning hold-up on Frank Zampa Jewellery on September 18, 2010.
Mr Zampa, then 79, had foiled the hold-up when he surprised the aggressors -armed with an iron bar and a fake gun - by resisting them.
In 2011, Marcus John Calleja, 37 of Balzan, admitted his involvement in the same crime and was jailed for three years. Later, another man, Michael Zahra, 39, of Valletta, was also charged. He too admitted and was jailed for three years.
Mr Zampa had described to Times of Malta how he was about to recite the Angelus in the shop bearing his name in St Lucy Street, Valletta when the men stormed into the shop shouting incomprehensibly.
He retaliated, and called out for help at the top of his voice. His cry was reportedly heard from outside the law courts and the sacristy in St Paul's Church.
“To my right, a tall man grabbed my throat and tried to push me down to the floor. Another man pushed me aside and pointed a revolver in my direction.”
“I raised my hands shouting ‘don’t shoot, don’t shoot’, and they thought I’d surrendered. But as soon as I lowered my hands I lunged at his revolver, taking it in my hands and pushing it in his direction.”
As Mr Zampa and his attacker wrestled with the gun, the weapon went off – but Mr Zampa did not feel the bullet skimming his skin.
“At that point, all I could think of was to put up a fight. I wanted to prevent these men from robbing my son’s shop at all costs. I didn’t consider that I could have been killed,” the septuagenarian said.
Mr Zampa looked down at his shirt and didn’t see any blood. This made him think the gun was firing blanks and it gave him the confidence to keep fighting the man holding the gun, even as the other man was hitting him unabated.
Soon, the other man pulled out a taser gun and zapped Mr Zampa in the neck.
“As soon as I felt the shock, I lashed back at him and luck had it that I knocked the taser out of his hands,” Mr Zampa said.
Struggling with all three men at the same time, they began moving slowly towards the door.
The robbers got up and ran away but even then Mr Zampa ran towards one of them to try and stop him. The man escaped, throwing Mr Zampa to the floor, from where he could not get back up.
In her decision, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech after declaring the detailed explanation by (previously accused and convicted) Marcus John Calleja as admissible evidence, noted that it tallied with the account given by Mr Zampa.
It was Calleja who implicated Jason Galea in the case.
Galea had denied being on the scene, saying he was helping out at his daughter's shop in Birżebbuga. He blamed the late Mario Camilleri (l-Imnieħru) for having implicated him but gave no justifiable reason. The court observed that he was actually implicated by Calleja, and it did not view Galea's testimony as being credible.
(Jason Galea is in separate proceedings accused of the murder of Mario Camilleri).
Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili represented Jason Galea in court.