Jurors yesterday found Melchior Spiteri guilty of the murder of Jason Azzopardi by seven votes to two.

It took jurors two-and-a-half hours of deliberation to reach their verdict, finding 28-year-old Spiteri guilty as charged - murdering Azzopardi in Cospicua on October 22, 2001.

During submissions on punishment defence counsel Tonio Azzopardi asked Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono to take into consideration the unfortunate circumstances and situation Spiteri was in at the time.

"Melchior Spiteri had really changed his ways when he was released from prison in 2001 but he became entangled in a web from which he could not free himself and, subsequently, did not have the opportunity to prove he had changed," Dr Azzopardi said.

Spiteri had tried to relieve his mother of a problem which instead fell on him like a ton of bricks. Defence counsel said he hoped the judgment handed down would take Spiteri's suffering into account - something that the verdict did not.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said replied that although usury was a torment to society and Azzopardi did not have the best of characters one could not forget that this was a cold blooded, premeditated murder.

"There is a danger that victims of usury, a problem that is unfortunately becoming more common, are encouraged to take the law into their hands," he said.

He asked the judge to ensure that the judgment handed down would be a message to society and would reflect the gravity of the crime committed, that is, murder.

Mr Justice Galea Debono put the case off to Tuesday for judgment.