One of three men convicted over a double murder in Sliema told a court on Tuesday how a “planned break-in” had “really escalated badly”.

“This was not what I signed up for… A robbery became a murder… The plan was to break in, carry out a robbery and it really escalated bad,” said Jesper Kristiansen.

The Danish man, who is serving 40 years in prison for his role in the double murder, took the stand in the compilation of evidence against Albanian national Daniel Muka and Serbian national Viktor Dragomanski.

All three were charged with the murder of Christian Pandolfino, 58, and Ivor Maciejowski, 30, who were shot dead at their Sliema house in Locker Street on August 18, 2020.

In February last year, Kristiansen admitted to his involvement and was jailed for 40 years following a plea bargaining agreement. He now took the stand in the case against the other two men.

In his testimony before Magistrate Nadine Lia, he said he came to Malta in 2017 looking for a job.

He met Muka through common friends about 10 days before the incident. He knew Dragomanski a long time before.

One day Muka said he knew of a place where there was some valuable stuff – “a couple of kilos” of gold.

“A short time after that we decided to break in and take the gold,” he said, adding it was Muka who came up with the idea.

Muka started scouting around the area of the Sliema house to understand the living patterns and concluded there would be no one home in the evenings.

Kristiansen said he agreed so long as no one was home as he did not want to hurt anyone, he said.

Then the day before the burglary they were driving around with Muka and met Dragomanski and roped him in. They agreed to go the next evening.

Kristiansen hides his face as he is escorted to court to be arraigned in August 2020. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.

“There was really no plan. There was chaos… The plan was to go in the evening, open the door, take whatever we wanted to take and go out. We would ring the doorbell. If no one was home ram the door,” he said.

On the day they went to a parking lot and changed the number plate of the white car they were using.

“It’s a common thing you do when you do something you’re not supposed to do… a safety precaution not to be recognised… there was a crime about to happen so you change the number plate,” he said adding that he did not know where the other number plates came from. Muka changed them.

The car they used was provided by Muka and he did not know it was stolen.

On the day he wore gloves and Muka wore a wig. They circled the residence by car more than once. Muka was driving and he was at the back while Dragomanski sat in the passenger’s seat.

They looked for a place to park the car without looking suspicious. They parked in a side road.

Muka walked first to the door. Muka was carrying a “man purse” – he was always carrying it. Kristiansen said he was half distance to the door when he heard the doorbell.

The door opened. Muka then spoke to the person inside the residence. He was too far away to hear, but it was male voices.

“In the beginning, it was normal talking and when the door closed it turned into shouting. Then I heared some 'pop pop pop'. I thought it was fireworks. 

“I went and rang the doorbell and Daniel [Muka] opened with a pistol in his hand. I remember hearing like a snoring noise from a person lying on the ground,” he said adding that he then saw Muka shoot but did not see another person.

Panic

He panicked and went back to the car. Dragomanski was outside the car. Back then he did not realise that had happened but was now aware.

“What happened was not even talked about. I wanted some safety or security. Viktor was outside the car. If I’m not wrong Victor asked me: ‘did somebody shoot?’ And I said: ‘what do you think?’… I said something like: ‘shit hit the fan. This is fucked up. This is a murder now not a fuckin robbery we had talked about’."

The two men then went back to the residence.

“We came for one purpose and that was the gold… inside there was the person on the floor, still with that disgusting sound, but now in a pool of blood,” he said.

Muka came towards them from an archway inside the house with jewellery – mostly necklaces - in one hand and a pistol in the other and he gave the jewellery to him.

The witness said he picked up a bag from the floor and put the jewellery in it. They then left.

In the car he asked Muka why he shot the men and why he had a gun. He replied: ‘I had to’.

“There was no plan after. It was chaos,” he said. They ended up going to Dragomanski’s home, by taxi, which was close to where he was living.

At Dragomanski’s house they took out the gold and cleaned it to remove any DNA. They discussed how to sell it.

Muka said he knew a man who would buy it.

The witness said that both he and Dragomanski were stressed. “We were both feeling: this is not what we signed up for.”

He then left and went home after about an hour. He tried going to Dragomanski’s house sometime after to ask if the gold was sold – but he was not home. He never spoke to Muka again.  

Kristiansen said that at the time he was depressed and in a toxic relationship. After the incident, he got updated that Muka was all over the place in the news and then got arrested.

Kristiansen said that he then left the island and went to Spain from where he was arrested and extradited to Malta to face charges.

Muka and Dragomanski had already been charged in court.

Defence lawyer Josette Sultana represented Muka, and lawyer Alex Scerri Herrera represented Dragomanski. 

Lawyer Joe Giglio is parte civile.