Man acquitted of attempted murder

One of four men standing trial for their involvement in a fight was yesterday cleared of attempted murder by six votes to three while his friend was cleared of complicity by seven votes to two.

After eight hours of deliberation, jurors cleared Keith Caruana, 26, of the attempted murder of Emanuel Farrugia on March 11, 2001, but found him guilty of slightly injuring him with a pointed instrument, while Anthony Joseph Portelli, 30, was cleared of complicity in the attempted murder.

Caruana was, unanimously, also cleared of seriously injuring Alfred Cardona but found guilty of resisting arrest by seven votes to two.

Portelli was found not guilty, by six votes to three, of greviously injuring Cardona but was found guilty, by the same vote, of taking part in a fight in which Cardona suffered serious injuries and slightly injuring Farrugia.

David Calleja, 39, was found not guilty of seriously injuring Cardona but guilty of slightly injuring him by a 6-3 vote. He was unanimously found not guilty of slightly injuring Farrugia and disobeying police but unanimously found guilty of relapsing.

Finally, Godwin Vella, 31, walked out of the dock after jurors found him not guilty of injuring Farrugia by seven votes to two.

The verdict reflects that jurors gave weight to the two conflicting versions - one in which the four accused were depicted as the 'attackers' and the other in which they were the 'attacked'.

Once the verdicts were read out by the foreman the defence counsel for Caruana, Portelli and Calleja rose to make their submissions on punishment. The trial was put off to Monday when witnesses are expected to take the stand before Mr Justice Galea Debono moves on to pass judgement.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Dr Mark Said is prosecuting.

Dr Anglu Farrugia is appearing for Caruana, Dr Edward Gatt for Portelli and Dr Martin Fenech for Calleja and Vella.