Anton Camilleri, 44 of Madliena, who is undergoing trial by bench for the alleged attempted murder of Saviour Mangion, today gave his version of the incident and insisted he never fired any shot.

Mr Camilleri is accused of the attempted murder of his then employee Savour Mangion on Sunday, May 9, 2004.

He told the court that on the day of the incident he was woken up at 7 a.m. with a phone call by Mr Mangion, who asked him for some documents related to a promise of sale agreement on a garage. He could hear his wife in the background demanding the papers immediately.

Mr Camilleri said he went to Mass with his family, and upon returning found Mr and Mrs Mangion waiting in a car outside his residence in Madliena.

Mrs Mangion approached him shouting that she wanted the papers and Mr Mangion then punched him.

Mr Camilleri said he retaliated and Mr Mangion fell to the floor.

At this point Mr Camilleri said he returned to his car to fetch his keys, diary and mobile phone. As he turned, he saw Mr Mangion coming at him again. He left his things on the roof of the car to defend himself, and told Mr Mangion that he could forget about his job and the promise of sale.

Mr Mangion punched him again, but Mr Camilleri said he went inside his home.

Some time later, the police called to question him and search the house.

Mr Camilleri said he kept a loaded shotgun in his house for self-defence, but he could never imagine using it for a trivial matter such as this.

When the police suggested a gunshot residue test he accepted immediately, and the test showed he had not fired any gun.

Had he wanted to hurt Mr Mangion, he would have done it while he was on the ground, Mr Camilleri said.

The trial started yesterday, when the victim claimed that Mr Camilleri had fetched a gun from the car and pointed it at him.