Jury clears man of attempted murder in 2019 Marsascala shooting
Accused convicted of attempted grievous bodily harm and firearm offences
A Marsascala man has been found not guilty of the attempted murder of his childhood friend at the end of a trial by jury.
By eight votes to one, 29-year-old Carl Caruana was found not guilty of attempting to kill Christian Muscat in November 2019, but was found guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm.
After four hours of deliberation, the parties in the case were called into Hall 22 on Thursday afternoon for the jury's verdict to be read out before Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera.
The jury unanimously found Caruana guilty of possession of a firearm or ammunition without a licence from the Police Commissioner and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Throughout the trial the prosecution claimed that on the day of the incident, Caruana and Muscat had argued on Facebook Messenger and agreed to meet at Triq il-Qaliet, Marsascala, at around 10.30 am.
When they arrived at the location in their respective cars, Caruana indicated for Muscat to approach him. Muscat got out of his car and walked towards the passenger side of Caruana’s vehicle, where another man was seated.
He looked inside and, addressing Caruana, told him to calm down so that the situation would not escalate. Caruana then reversed his car and, thinking he might be driven into, Muscat ran towards the front porch of a nearby home and grabbed a stone.
At that point, Caruana allegedly pointed a gun out of the window and fired five shots at Muscat with the intent to hit him. Muscat ducked and was not injured.
During his testimony, Muscat said the argument started over a woman. He told jurors that he was not sure who actually fired the gun at him since there was another person in the car with Caruana at the time.
The defence built their case around this element of doubt – that it was not proven who actually fired the gun.
Attorney General lawyers Kaylie Bonett and Dejan Darmanin prosecuted, alongside police inspector Eman Hayman. Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Ishmael Psaila and Amadeus Cachia are representing the accused.