Life sentence for complicity in hairstylist's murder

Libyan Ibrahim Ramandan Ghamber Shnishah was yesterday jailed for life after jurors, on Friday, returned a 6-3 verdict finding him guilty of complicity in the robbery that resulted in the murder of hairstylist Alfie Rizzo in his Gzira hair salon six years ago.

After evaluating the circumstances of the case and submissions made by both parties Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, who presided the one-week trial, noted that Shnishah fell into the category of people considered to be a menace to society.

Quoting case law the judge added that this constituted a case where "the protection of the public makes it necessary that a long sentence, possibly the maximum sentence, be passed".

On Friday jurors found 27-year-old Shnishah guilty of complicity in robbery that ended in the death of Rizzo on February 4, 1998, and the possession of a knife without a licence by six votes to three.

Mr Justice Galea Debono heard Dr Joseph Brincat, for Shnishah, argue that the verdict was the minimum allowed by law and the six-and-a-half hours of deliberation were indicative of a difficult decision.

Dr Brincat also called on the judge to exercise discretion towards Shnishah who was of a young age and came from a good family. Moreover, Shnishah's behaviour throughout the trial shed light on his character.

Among other things, Dr Brincat added that two years after having been arrested over Rizzo's murder Shnishah had escaped from jail and was convicted to six years imprisonment for that. Therefore he had already paid for that offence.

The judge also heard Assistant Attorney General Dr Anthony Barbara argue that the crime, of which jurors had found Shnishah guilty, indicated that he was not one to benefit from discretion.

Shnishah was the mastermind behind a premeditated, cruel and deceitful crime that ended in Rizzo's death. He was ready to kill a man for his own personal gain. A case of such serious nature deserved a punishment that reflected its gravity. This, Dr Barbara said, was a classic case that merited life imprisonment.

After hearing the submissions Mr Justice Galea Debono noted that the law laid down that in case of a conviction of theft and murder an accused faced life imprisonment and that an accomplice in a crime faced the same jail term as the author of that crime.

The law also stated that if the verdict was not a unanimous one, after evaluating all the circumstances of the case, a judge could exercise his discretion and give a jail term that was not less than 12 years but below life imprisonment, in this case.

Mr Justice Galea Debono went on to explain that, as the evidence showed, Shnishah was the sort of leader of a circle of Libyan young men on which he had influence at the time of the crime.

In this case Shnishah did not cooperate with police, on the other hand, he had tried to escape while awaiting trial.

The court could not ignore that after spending two years in preventive custody over his involvement in Rizzo's murder, on March 29, 2000, Shnishah sequestered, threatened and injured guards at the prison when he escaped.

It was true that this had happened after the murder and he had been jailed for six years and therefore should not be punished for the same office a second time.

On the other hand, this showed that Shnihah was not sorry for his actions as he tried to escape the consequence of his actions.

The fact that he came from a good family, as explained by the defence, had not been proven in court and even if it did, it was he who was being tried and not his family.

In light of all this, although the court took note of all things in favour of Shnishah, as brought forward by the defence, it could not ignore the fact that because of this tragic, deliberate and cruel crime that was motivated by money a man had been killed.

Shnishah had encouraged, coaxed, planned and helped the author of the crime by providing him with a deadly weapon and promised to stand by him after the crime, which he did.

Consequently, the judge felt that discretion was not to be exercised in this case and jailed Shnishah for life without solitary confinement.

Mr Justice Galea Debono earlier ordered the police commissioner to investigate Aimen Said Giali El Baden El Baden for perjury.

El Baden had been jailed for 25 years after jurors on May 14, 2002 unanimously found him guilty of the murder of Rizzo.

Before the judgment was read out Dr Brincat informed the court that his client had heard jurors deliberate on Friday while he was waiting in the lock-up.

The judge noted that he should have informed someone if that was the case and ruled that the court would look into the matter, however, since this did not affect the validity of the verdict he would move on to pass judgment.

Later, when the judgment was read out, court staff together with the judge examined the possibility of one hearing the jurors' deliberations from the lock up.

They concluded that it was very unlikely as the lock-up looked onto a different yard and was situated five floors below the room in which jurors deliberated.

A few hours after the judgement was read out, Dr Brincat filed an appeal in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In an 11-page document, Dr Brincat, for Shnishah appealed claiming that, among other things, there was not sufficient evidence for him to be convicted of the crimes brought against him and that the jail term was definitely excessive.

He also argued that the verdict had been affected by irregularities in the procedure and the misinterpretation and misapplication of the law.