An appeals court has ordered the re-sentencing of a man convicted of murder after he protested that he had been given a longer prison term than agreed in a plea bargain. 

Eliott Paul Busuttil had murdered a taxi driver while out on bail for attempting to kill another man.

He had appealed the 42-year-jail term handed down in March, arguing that the judge should have informed him that she would not adhere to a 35-year jail term agreed by the prosecution and the defence in exchange for a guilty plea. 

Busuttil noted that he ended up getting seven years more than he agreed during the sentence bargaining agreement, and he should have been allowed to reconsider his plea.

In the appeal application, filed by his lawyers Edward Gatt and Shaun Zammit, he said that Madame Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrara’s judgment sought to “please the gallery but did not a reflect a sense of justice.”

On Wednesday the appeals court ordered that the case be sent back to the Criminal Court to abide by terms of plea bargain. 

On March 5 Busuttil, 40 of Attard, had admitted to murdering Mario Farrugia, a 62-year-old taxi driver who was found dead in the trunk of his car in Qormi valley in April 2022, as well as the attempted murder of a second man, Emil Marinov.

Murder victim Mario Farrugia (inset) was discovered in the boot of a car three days after he went missing. Photo: Facebook

At the time of the murder, Busuttil was out on bail for the attempted murder of the Bulgarian, who was found in Ta’ Qali in August 2020, after also being stabbed multiple times.

Marinov had contacted Busuttil over a Facebook Marketplace advert because he wanted to buy hi-fi equipment – and ended up being slashed 24 times with a butcher’s knife.

During the sentencing hearing in March, the judge noted that there was a sentence bargaining agreement between the Attorney General and the defence for a 35-year jail term after Busuttil pleaded guilty and was told about the legal consequences to his guilty plea.

The judge noted she was not legally bound by the sentence bargaining if she felt this was not fair.

On handing down judgment the judge noted that Busuttil tried to kill an innocent man and then managed to kill another. He had learnt nothing from his previous convictions.

"The murder of Mario Farrugia was barbaric as, after he killed him, he hid the body in the boot of a car until he was found," she said.