The police yesterday charged a second man in connection with a shooting outside a lawyer’s Iklin office on Friday evening.
David Vella, 36, pleaded not guilty to attempting to seriously injure, threatening and assaulting Christopher Schembri, firing a weapon in a residential area, carrying an unlicensed weapon during the commission of a crime, breaching the peace and breaching a court order handed down in June 2012.
Mr Vella was also charged with theft of cheques to the detriment of Yanika Zahra and E&S Consultancy Limited. His defence lawyers, Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta, made no request for bail and he was remanded in custody.
On Sunday, the police charged Mr Schembri, 33, a fuel distributor, over the shooting incident. The shooting took place at around 9pm in Anton Manuel Caruana Street during an argument between Mr Vella and Mr Schembri over a bounced cheque. Prosecuting officer Carlos Cordina told the court the argument revolved around money owed to AC Fuels Limited. He said that according to police investigations, Mr Vella fired first and Mr Schembri retaliated by firing shots in the air.