Jury acquits man of attempted murder

A Paola man was yesterday jailed for two years after jurors found him guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm by six votes to three but returned a not guilty verdict for attempted murder by the same margin.

After an unexpected 13-and-a-half hours of deliberation that started on Wednesday at 12.30 p.m., jurors in the three-day trial found Mark Lawrence Rizzo not guilty of the attempted murder of Desmond Falzon.

However, they found Rizzo, 38, guilty of trying to seriously injure Falzon when he drove his car in Falzon's direction in Paola on July 2, 2002.

Jurors unanimously found Rizzo guilty of driving dangerously and recklessly and relapsing.

After hearing submissions on punishment Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono went on to pass judgment. He took the nature of the crime and Rizzo's criminal record into consideration.

He also noted that jurors had returned the minimum verdict prescribed by law for the attempted serious injury charge, which comprised the dangerous driving charge.

The judge jailed Rizzo for two years and ordered that the time he spent in preventive custody be deducted from the jail term. He also banned him from driving for five years and bound him not to approach Falzon or any member of his family for a year, starting after he serves time, against a Lm100 fine in default.