Accused said he had wanted to kill his victim - police witness

A person who stands charged with the attempted murder of his second cousin went into a frenzy when informed that the victim was still alive and told the police he had wanted to kill him, a police inspector said in court yesterday.

Inspector Silvio Valletta was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Salvu Farrugia, 55, of Birzebbuga who stands charged with trying to kill Alfred (sive Godfrey) Schembri by shooting at him with a shotgun.

Farrugia, nicknamed is-super, also stands charged with grievously injuring Schembri and with disfiguring his face, neck and one of his arms and with carrying a shotgun out of its case, with firing the gun in a road and with damaging Schembri`s car.

Insp. Valletta said that at one point during the interrogation he told the accused: `Thank God the victim is still alive.` "The accused went berserk. I tried to calm him down and he told me he wanted to kill him," he testified.

Insp. Valletta said the accused told him that some four years ago the victim had shot at and killed a turtle dove which had settled in Farrugia`s field and Farrugia had felt very upset about it. As a result the two fell out with each other.

He said the accused told him that after that incident, the accused started noticing that the victim used to sneer and make faces at him or laugh when he saw him. Farrugia believed Schembri was doing it to mock him.

Insp. Valletta said investigations showed that on May 16, Schembri left home to go hunting in his fields in the limits of Tal-Brolli, Birzebbuga when he was shot at by Farrugia.

The inspector said the accused released a statement saying he had gone hunting when, on the way to his field, he remembered that his wife had wanted some potatoes. He went to a room he had in his field and filled a bucketful of potatoes. As he was walking down the road, he saw the victim driving his car in the opposite direction and he fired two shots, one at the windscreen and one at the driver`s window.

Insp. Valletta said the accused told him he was sure Schembri was alone as otherwise he would not have shot him. The officer testified Farrugia told him he had twice wanted to shoot the victim before but on one occasion the victim was accompanied by his son and Farrugia said he did not want to harm the son as the latter had nothing to do with the argument between them.

The witness testified the accused said he saw the victim drive away. The accused said he went home, told his wife what he had just done and returned to the fields "to look for him and finish what he had started doing," as Farrugia thought he had failed to hit Schembri. But after he went to the fields and saw that Schembri did not turn up, he returned home and then gave himself up to the police.

The victim drove home and started sounding the vehicle`s horn. Relatives went to his assistance and the police and an ambulance were called, Insp. Valletta said.

In the meantime, Farrugia had given to the police the gun which he had allegedly shot Schembri with, together with the cartridges used, Insp. Valletta said.

He said Farrugia was taken to the police headquarters where gunshot residue tests were carried out. He later released a statement and clearly replied to all questions.

"He even remembered the colours of the cartridges he had used; one was black, the other white," the witness said.

The victim`s father, Leonard, testified about the commotion outside his house at about 6.15 a.m. on the day of the shooting. He said he saw his son covered in blood.

"He was seconds away from death. My other son, Joseph, turned him on the side and he started coughing up blood and started breathing again," he said.

The father said the police asked him where his son usually went hunting and he accompanied the police to show them where his fields were. On his way back home, he saw the accused with the police and suspected it was he who had done it and (sarcastically) told him:

`Well done, super`, to which the accused replied: "I did not want to just shoot at him, I wanted to kill him, I wanted to kill him".

The father recalled that his son had had an argument with the accused over a turtle dove. There was also a problem when trees in the property of the accused and also in their own property had been vandalised. Last November, somebody had torn their nets, which they used to trap song birds.

Leonard Schembri said he had told the police he initially suspected that Joseph Bonnici might have been involved in the shooting as they had blamed him for the incident in which the nets had been ripped.

The victim`s brother, Joseph, and the victim`s son, Carmel, testified how the victim did not want to tell them who had shot him.

"He was moaning and in pain and was telling us he was feeling cold. He told us he had done no one any harm but he had been shot. But each time we asked him who had shot him, he tried to change the subject and then he fainted," his brother said.

The brother said he was a first aider and pushed in a piece of cloth into a chest wound the victim had in order to stem the flow of blood. He realised his brother was dying as he was short of breath and started breathing again only after he put him in the recovery position.

The brother said he too heard the accused repeatedly say he wanted to kill the victim when his father spoke to him as they were returning from their fields after showing the police where the fields were.

Police Sergeant Ray Aquilina said two shots had been fired at the victim`s car. One grazed the windscreen and the other smashed the window on the driver`s side. There was a lot of blood inside the car, on the pavement and at the entrance to the victim`s house.

Sgt. Aquilina said he had spoken to the victim in hospital and the latter recalled he had had arguments with the accused over birds and over some trees that had been vandalised. He said the victim told him that on the day in question he saw the accused shooting at him and that he did not want to tell his relatives who had shot at him "so as not to create problems".

The case continues.

Inspectors Silvio Valletta and Nadia Falzon prosecuted.

Dr Toni Abela and Dr Victor Bugeja appeared for Farrugia. Dr Peter Fenech appeared for Schembri.