A Dingli man who allegedly injured a fellow hunter in a shooting incident early on Wednesday morning, has been remanded in custody after pleading not guilty during his arraignment today.

Joseph Scicluna, the 53-year old, a WSC employee, was arrested following the incident which left a 43-year old man suffering a gunshot wound.

The injured victim had walked into the Mosta health centre at 6am on Wednesday morning.

The alleged culprit was charged with having attempted to place the life of his victim in clear danger, injuring the latter while being in possession of a weapon. He was further charged with having breached the conditions of his arms licence and also with breaching the Arms Act.

Defence counsel Alfred Abela requested bail, arguing that the greatest fear of the prosecution - namely that of safeguarding two eyewitnesses - could be countered by adequate court measures.

The man had a clean criminal record and had no past brushes with the law.

“He is a family man,” Dr Abela argued, adding that a third party guarantee could also be imposed.

However, prosecuting Inspector James Grech rebutted that this was a scheduled offence, apparently sparked off by an argument between the two men after the victim testified in proceedings.

“The fear that he might talk to the witness is the least concern,” the inspector continued, pointing out that these men regularly went to hunt and would likely come across each other when armed.

After hearing these submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Francesco Depasquale, turned down the request for bail in view of the gravity of the offence and the fact that the parties lived in the same locality, urging the prosecution to summon the witnesses as soon as possible.

Inspector Wayne Camilleri also prosecuted.
Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Rene Darmanin were also defence counsel.