A man who killed a taxi driver while out on bail on separate attempted murder charges has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Elliot Paul Busuttil was sentenced again on Tuesday after a previous decision by the Criminal Court to jail him for 42 years was quashed on appeal.

Busuttil stabbed 62-year-old taxi driver Mario Farrugia more than 40 times and then left his body in the trunk of his car in an Qormi valley, where it was found on April 5, 2022.

At the time, he was out on bail for the attempted murder of Emil Marinov, who he slashed more than 20 times with a cleaver in a random and unprovoked act of violence. Marinov had met Busuttil to buy a pair of speakers off him after seeing them for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Mario Farrugia was missing for three days before his body was found.

Prosecutors chose to combine those two cases into one, with both crimes cited in a bill of indictment issued against him. 

His lawyers struck a plea deal with the Attorney General in which both sides agreed to a 35-year prison sentence if he registered a guilty plea.

The parties filed a joint application along those lines in February this year.

But when the case came up for hearing in March, the judge who was formerly presiding over Busuttil’s case noted that she was not legally bound by the agreement if she felt that it was not fair.

The court subsequently imposed a 42-year prison sentence.

Busuttil’s lawyers filed an appeal, arguing that the judge should have informed the accused that she would not adhere to the plea deal before he registered his admission.

The Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the sentence and sent the case back to the Criminal Court for re-sentencing.

Emil Marinov had his head sliced open in a violent attack.

When delivering judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice Neville Camilleri, who was assigned the case after the appeal decision, observed that during a sitting last week the accused confirmed his admission.

When meting out punishment the court took note of the unruly criminal record of the accused, the serious crimes of which he was charged and his admission.

Although that admission was registered at a late stage, the court could not ignore the fact that the trial had not yet gotten under way.

By pleading guilty, he had spared the court unnecessary expenses and preparations.

The court thus declared Busuttil guilty of all charges and condemned him to 35-years imprisonment and a €116.47 fine.

The court also ordered the confiscation of €25,000 in bail money Busuttil had posted.

He was also ordered to pay €70,786.90 in court expert expenses and bound under a €2000 personal obligation not to molest his victim, Marinov.

Lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Busuttil and Shaun Zammit were defence counsel.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi appeared parte civile for Marinov.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri appeared for the Farrugia family.