Driver guilty of road rage stabbing

After three-and-a-half hours of deliberation, jurors yesterday returned to find a 39-year-old man guilty of trying to kill a driver with a 20 centimetre knife following a road rage incident.

Stephen Pirotta was found guilty, by seven votes to two, of the attempted murder of David Azzopardi, 42, on September 28, 2005.

On Monday, jurors heard how Mr Pirotta had stabbed Mr Azzopardi so deeply that the knife was just 12 millimetres away from exiting his back.

Mr Azzopardi recounted in court that he was driving back home to Sta Luċija after attending the opening of a wine bar in Rabat when a white car began hooting for him to move over. Mr Azzopardi did so and the driver, Mr Pirotta, overtook him and hit his side view mirror as he went past but kept on driving.

The victim said he followed the accused to the roundabout near Pavi supermarket and began hooting to attract his attention. The two stopped close to the roundabout.

Mr Pirotta pulled to one side and got out the car, walked over to the victims' car, fiddled with the side mirror and told the victim there was nothing wrong with it. At that point, the victim told him that if he found anything wrong with the car in the morning he had his registration number and would report him. Mr Pirotta ran back to the car and, as the victim tried to get out of his car he was stabbed in the lower right chest.

In a statement to police, the accused admitted to stabbing the victim but added that he acted in self defence because he saw the victim bend down during their argument and thought he had a shotgun. He said he stabbed Mr Azzopardi before the victim had a chance to react.

Jurors also found Mr Pirotta guilty of driving dangerously, carrying a knife without a licence and breaching the conditions of a previous release.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono said he would hear submissions on punishment this morning and is expected to hand down judgment shortly afterwards.

Lawyer Nadine Sant from the Attorney General's Office prosecuted.

Lawyers Anġlu and Caroline Farrugia appeared for the accused.

Police Inspectors Jesmond Borg and Anthony Portelli had conducted the investigations into the stabbing.