Jailed for trying to run over colleague

A Sta Lucija man was yesterday jailed for six years for trying to run over a colleague.

Elvin Abela, 24, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of George Mangion in the car park of CRC Components Limited at the Marsa industrial estate on October 9, 2002.

He was also charged with causing Lm144 damage to his car.

The prosecution claimed that Abela and Mangion had a history of heated arguments and Abela vowed he would kill Mangion.

On October 9, 2002, at about 7.30 a.m., Mangion parked in the car park of CRC Components Limited, where he and Abela worked.

When he got out of his car Mangion saw Abela speed towards him and ran between the parked cars to screen himself from being hit.

When Abela saw that he could not run over Mangion he got out of his car carrying a knife in one hand and a metal pipe in the other.

Mangion ran away and Abela chased him until he arrived near Mangion's car and hit the boot with the pipe.

Abela then got back into the car and again tried to run over Mangion but their employer and some colleagues intervened and calmed down the situation.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono yesterday noted that Abela's father Anthony had described his son as a quiet man and that Abela had been systematically provoked by Mangion for years and that he had been injured in an incident at work involving Mangion the night before the murder attempt.

He heard that Abela was willing to pay for the damage caused to Mangion's car within a week.

Mr Justice Galea Debono also noted that Abela had filed a guilty plea at an early stage of the proceedings, had a clean criminal record, had cooperated with police and was still a young man.

The judge ordered that the time Abela spent in preventive custody be deducted from his jail term. Abela was also banned from driving for a year.

Senior counsel to the republic Mark Said prosecuted.