Accused pensioner says murder victim took so much money he 'couldn't buy tea'

Salvino Mangion, who is accused of shooting his neighbour, returned to court on Monday after suffering a heart attack during the last sitting, saying the victim had extorted so much money from him he “could not even pay for a cup of tea”.

The 71-year-old man stands accused of the murder of Kyle Mifsud. He denies the charges.

The pensioner appeared in court on Monday afternoon after he was hospitalised last week during the first sitting in the gathering of evidence when he suffered a heart attack. As he entered the courtroom, the man blew kisses in the direction of his lawyer Franco Debono.

Two of Mangion’s neighbours took the witness stand.

On September 21, Emmanuel Bellotti was returning to his flat at about 12:45pm when he heard someone whimpering. He did not take much notice of it at the time. His wife told him she heard a big noise and thought “I think they [Mifsud and partner] broke down his [Mangion’s] door again.”

Bellotti went out into the common area and saw a man sitting on the floor holding his face. Three to five minutes later, the witness heard someone banging on his door. He went outside and found the alleged victim kicking his door.

“Leave my door alone,” the witness recalled telling the victim.

“Salvu shot me” Mifsud told Bellotti.

The alleged victim showed him the wound under his rolled up t-shirt, with Bellotti telling him not to move as he called the Bormla police station.

“I got confused, I called the police and told them to bring the medics,” the witness recalled.

“I did not recognise him [Mifsud]. But he called me ‘Noel, Noel’. It was only when his photos were uploaded to Facebook that I recognised him. Mifsud used to live across my mother’s house,” Bellotti explained.

The witness went downstairs to bring a pair of gloves from his vehicle to clean the mess, not quite understanding what happened, but once he tried to go back to his house, the police did not allow him inside.

Bellotti explained that he would often see Mifsud in the common area either coming or leaving Mangion’s house. He added that days before the shooting, Mangion had told Bellotti’s wife “they left me without any money, I do not have money to buy a cup of tea.”

While Mangion did not specify who he was referring to, both the witness and his wife took it to mean Mifsud and the woman who came with him.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Franco Debono, the witness said that they thought he broke down the door, since Mifsud had already done so, when they broke into Mangion’s apartment.

Sometimes, Mifsud went alone to Mangion’s house, sometimes “Donna” went to Mangion’s house alone, and other times they went together.

Asked to describe Mangion, the witness said “he was a good man, and certainly not capable of those things” adding that when Mifsud told him Mangion shot him, he was shocked.

Bellotti’s wife, Ruth, echoed her husband’s testimony. She explained that Mifsud and his partner, Donna Camilleri often came to Mangion’s house. This had been ongoing for some three years. The woman also mentioned three women: a red-head, and two blondes.

Asked if she knew why these people visited Mangion, the witness said she had overheard them asking the elderly man for money.

“These people looked like they’re on drugs. Some three weeks before the incident, I met Salvu, he was sad, he was going to the police station to file a report because they left him without any money,” the woman recalled.

The woman said she knew Mangion for some 30 years and that he was a family man, and they never had issues with him. But the witness added that they were annoyed at the people visiting the accused.

“Come because your father is going to jump”

The accused’s two sons, Jonathan and Brian Mangion also testified on Monday.

Jonathan Mangion told the court that there was this couple chasing his father for money.

“I had warned them to stop it and I even gave photos of the pair to the police inspector. I had seen them close to my father’s house and had repeatedly warned him [Mifsud] to leave my dad alone,” Jonathan Mangion said.

The witness said neighbours would call him and tell him that they saw “these people” pushing his father on the street. He was also told that these people used to beat his father.

“What do you do in such cases? Do you take the law into your hands?” Jonathan Mangion testified.

On the day of the incident, a person called the witness telling him to come because his father was going “to go jump”.

Asking why he would do such a thing, the other person told the witness “because he shot [someone]”.

Mangion went to Birgu where he met the inspector and took him to his father.

The witness said it was only when he was questioned at the police headquarters that he realised that the alleged victim was the same person that had broken into his father’s home earlier.

Mangion also explained that two or three years ago he installed a camera inside his father’s house, which records footage every time the apartment door is open.

“This story has been going on for a long time. I would report at Bormla police station but stopped doing so when no action was taken. There was another person that would come to ask for money,” Mangion said, adding that they would not leave him money to buy food.

Brian Mangion told the court that his brother called him saying “the old one did it [għamilha x-xiħ]. He shot someone.” The witness did not believe his brother and remained home. He explained that the neighbours would always call and complain to Jonathan, who in turn told him that there were people chasing his father, pushing him and blackmailing him.

“I call my father every day. He never mentioned anything. I never suspected that anything was wrong,” Brian told the court.

Some months ago, the accused stopped living with the witness after two years. Salvino Mangion had moved in with his son, because of the individuals demanding money from him.

A sergeant and a constable from Bormla Police Station also testified on Monday afternoon.

The case continues later this week.

Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia presided.

Attorney General lawyer Kaylie Bonett prosecuted assisted by Inspectors Stephen Gulia, Francesca Calleja and Keith Rizzo.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit are representing Mangion. Lawyers Nicholas and Mario Mifsud are appearing for the victim’s family.