A recording by a closed circuit camera showing part of the incident during which Sebastian Borg of Qormi died after being shot by armed police when he attacked them with a penknife is being examined by the magistrate investigating the case.

The recording, which does not show the final phase of the incident, was taken from a CCTV camera installed outside the home of the locality's mayor.

Fifty-two-year-old Mr Borg was hit by five bullets fired by two policemen in Main Street, Qormi, shortly after 10.30 p.m. on May 4 after he allegedly repeatedly tried to stab and slash three officers with a penknife.

He was hit by three bullets in the chest, one in the head and another in the shoulder.

The police had been acting on reports that Mr Borg had damaged cars and threatened men in a bar and taken their drinks.

When contacted, the police said an internal inquiry was still in progress and the inquiry by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima has not yet been completed.

Speaking at his bar in Qormi, the victim's younger brother, Carmelo, noted that more than two months had passed since the incident.

"I sympathise with the police because they had a duty to perform but in this case everyone knew that my brother was mentally sick because various reports were made.

"There were other ways to control the situation and he certainly should not have been shot like that," Mr Borg said as he echoed family claims that they had warned the police and the health authorities about their brother's "bad mental state" five days before the fatal confrontation.

In an e-mail addressed to Police Commissioner John Rizzo, the family claimed the killing could have been avoided. They accused the police of recklessness and urged the Police Commissioner to bring the "police responsible" to justice or resign.

Mr Borg said: "What's done is done and my brother is dead and cannot be brought back. But we are earnestly waiting for the truth to come out and that justice is done."

Mr Borg has reservations about comments made by Mr Rizzo, which he interpreted as an effort to protect the officers involved in the shooting of his brother.

At a press conference after the incident, Mr Rizzo said the police were treating the case with the attention it deserved and were collecting evidence before reaching any conclusions. He was also quoted saying that one had to put oneself in the policemen's shoes.

The family said Mr Borg had suffered from acute breakdowns, which, from time to time, became so severe that the police would have to be called to escort him to Mount Carmel Hospital for treatment.

This was such an occasion, the family said, pointing out that for five days prior to the incident they had been contacting authorities at Mount Carmel, the social worker assigned to him and the police. But no one had helped, the family sadly reported.