Investigators probing the New Year’s Day murder in Rabat are at a loss as to the possible motive behind the shooting and have reasons to believe that Eric Borg was shot because the suspect thought he had been following him.

Police officers did not manage to extract any possible motive from suspect Noel Azzopardi during the hours of interrogation at the police headquarters. Although he answered all their questions, Azzopardi repeated several times that he was being followed.

Sources close to the investigation told Times of Malta that Azzopardi had filed police reports claiming that he was being followed. It is unclear what action the police took on these reports.

Azzopardi, 39, stands charged with shooting Borg, 27, twice at around 3pm in Triq il-Fidloqqom, Rabat.

He has a history of psychiatric illness. He has been receiving psychiatric treatment since at least 2016 and has been under the care of a psychiatrist since then.

His lawyers requested that Azzopardi’s medical records, especially those related to Mount Carmel Hospital, be presented in court.

He was transferred out of the Corradino Correctional Facility to the Forensic Unit at Mount Carmel Hospital following a psychiatric evaluation shortly after being accused in court of shooting Borg on New Year’s Day.

Azzopardi turned himself in at the Rabat police station shortly after the shooting. He is pleading not guilty to wilful homicide, using a firearm to commit a crime, firing a gun within 200 metres of an urban area and not ensuring that his gun and ammunition were kept in a secure place inside his home.

During his arraignment, Azzopardi had to have questions simplified and repeated to him before providing answers, even those requesting his name and surname.

Sources said that Azzopardi’s police interrogation had to be postponed by some hours before defence lawyers obtained permission from the inquiring magistrate, Charmaine Galea, for their client to be examined by a court-appointed psychiatrist to ascertain whether he was fit for questioning. The interrogation only resumed after the green light was given.

The sources said Azzopardi feared he was being followed and investigators are so far relying on the thesis that he believed it was Borg who was following him.

Borg’s family have denied media reports and social media rumours that he and Azzopardi were related. They also denied that there was any issue concerning land. They, however, turned down media interviews and asked for their privacy to be respected. The victim was buried on Saturday.

A panel of court-appointed psychiatrists are yet to determine whether Azzopardi was in a state of mental confusion at the time of the commission of the fatal crime.

The defence’s request for medical records to be made available to the court indicates that the defence may plead insanity at a later stage in the criminal proceedings.

The compilation of evidence against Azzopardi will be heard by Magistrate Marseann Farrugia and is expected to begin later this month.