A man who survived a frenzied butcher’s knife attack at the hands of a man who later went on to kill somebody else, says his attacker should have been jailed for life.

Emil Marinov watched in court on Tuesday as Eliott Paul Busuttil, 40, was sentenced to 42 years after admitting murder and attempted murder.

“We always hoped and wished for a higher sentence,” said the 60-year-old, who attended the sentencing hearing with his son, Vladimir.

“I wanted it to be life imprisonment without parole. He had two cases: one for killing and the other for trying to kill me. We still don’t know why. He had the right to be silent.”

Busuttil, from Attard, was out on bail for the attempted murder of Marinov in August 2020 when he murdered 62-year-old taxi driver Mario Farrugia, who was found dead in the trunk of his car in Qormi valley in April 2022. Both men were repeatedly stabbed but only one survived.

During the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the judge noted that there was a sentence bargaining agreement between the Attorney General and the defence for a 35-year jail term after Busuttil pleaded guilty.

But the judge noted she was not legally bound by the sentence bargaining and jailed him for 42 years.

“It’s very good that the judge gave more years, but I wish it to be life imprisonment without parole,” said Marinov, as he held back tears and spoke about how the unprovoked attack changed his life forever.

“My life is kaput. I still have a disability. I am not the same. I go to therapy and I take medication. In the night I don’t go out. I’m afraid,” he says.

His son adds: “It will haunt him for life.”

Marinov, who is from Bulgaria, moved to Malta some 22 years ago to be with his son who was then 12 and wanted to study English. The plan was to stay for a year, but they ended up remaining in the country, where Marinov worked as a handyman and, later, a welder.

Marinov, who likes to collect audio equipment, only came across Elliott Paul Busuttil because he had placed an advert on Facebook marketplace to sell a pair of tower speakers.

Marinov met Elliott Paul Busuttil because he had placed an advertisement on Facebook marketplace. Photo: Emil Marinov

Marinov reached out to him on August 13, 2022, and agreed on a price – €150. They agreed to meet, initially near Maypole in Attard. When they met Busuttil asked him to take him to Marsa because he needed some keys. When in Marsa, Busuttil asked for a €30 advance on the payment for the speakers and vanished down an alley. 

When he returned, they headed back to Attard and Marinov waited in the car. Busuttil returned, without speakers, and told him they had to drive towards Ta’ Qali. Busuttil had him drive down a deserted country lane leading to some fields near the national football stadium.

By this point, it was 10pm and the area was a dark ghost town. Busuttil leapt out of the car, leaving the passenger door open. As Marinov got out he felt a big blow on the head. What followed was a vicious attack where Busuttil used a butcher’s knife to slash Marinov on the ears, face, lips, head and arms. Busuttil took off with the €120 that Marinov had stuffed in his trouser pocket and left him for dead.

Emil Marinov was stabbed 24 times. Photo: Emil Marinov

Sometime later an off-duty policeman saw Marinov on the ground and called for assistance. Within hours of the attack, Busuttil was arrested and charged with attempted homicide. 

Marinov says his life was turned upside down. “I lost my job. I get a small pension. Everything changed... I got 24 hits with a butcher’s knife. I do not hear well from both ears…  I can’t concentrate.”

Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera said Marinov was an innocent man who went to buy a stereo and “had his head opened up like a book” in the attack.

Two years later, Busuttil carried out another “animalistic” and “barbaric” attack on Mario Farrugia, fatally stabbing him 45 times.

Marinov now warns people “to be very careful about where they go and who they meet. Because nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Haunting questions

Marinov and his now 34-year-old son still don’t know what sparked the attack.  “What triggered him? There was no argument. Not even on the price. Now afterwards, I was all the time thinking: why? Maybe when he asked for €30 he went to buy drugs,” he says.

His son continues: “What was he thinking? Was he thinking it from the beginning? Did something twist his mind? Did he meet someone who provoked this? Maybe someone sent him?”

The questioned are haunting and endless.

They believe more effort should have been done during the court proceedings to get to the bottom of this and answer this question as this was important for the victim.

“The victim gets nothing,” Vladimir said noting that Busuttil was ordered to pay some €70,000 in court expenses.

But the Maltese system does not cater for victims at Criminal Court stage. The family initiated a court case for compensation – but this costs money, and the outcome is not guaranteed.

Father and son believe that victims deserve more of a voice – a point made by the judge who suggested a legal amendment that would ensure that victims are involved in plea bargaining agreements. In this case the Attorney General consulted the victims, but he was not obliged by law.

“No one knows what he went through,” Vladimir says about his father. “They see him here in court and think he looks okay. But they don’t know how he is at home, at night… Yes, he [Busuttil] got 42 years. But he will probably be out before on parole because of good behaviour. He deserved more.”