A 41-year-old man was sentenced to 34 years imprisonment on Thursday after pleading guilty to the murder of Victor McKeon in a Sta  Luċija apartment four years ago.

Samir Almiri, 34, a Libyan national who used to live with the victim, was extradited from Morocco to face trial and pleaded guilty after a plea bargain.

McKeon, 62, was found lying on the bathroom floor covered head to toe in garbage bags. He had a deep laceration on his head probably caused by a sharp and pointed instrument and died from suffocation.

The gruesome discovery was made after neighbours reported a foul smell and called in the police. The victim had been dead for several days. 

His body was identified through DNA testing.  

Almiri escaped to Morocco before the body was found. Six days later, he was arrested in Casablanca after an international arrest warrant was issued through Malta’s Interpol office. He was brought back to Malta in December 2020.

The victim, McKeon, was previously targeted inside his own home in August 2017 when two men entered the apartment and stabbed him while he was in bed, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.   

At the time of the murder in March 2020 sources said that although McKeon was known to the police, he was "not a hardened criminal”.  

McKeon had been given a suspended jail term after being convicted of having bludgeoned a kitten to death with a wooden stick. 

Lawyer Daniel Attard assisted the accused in the murder case.   

Samir Almiri seen upon his extradition to Malta in December 2020. Police CMRU photo.