Witness claims accused shot first

John Pace yesterday explained the context of a shooting in Mosta earlier this month and told how he had reached an agreement with lawyer Patrick Spiteri to lease land in Attard for 15 years at Lm400 a year.

Pace said he had lent Dr Spiteri Lm15,000 and the lawyer had paid him back with the lease of the land but had not told him it belonged to Fenech.

He eventually learnt that Dr Spiteri had leased the land from Fenech for Lm2,200 a year but had stopped paying the lease and Fenech wanted him off his land.

Pace testified before Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani-Grima in the compilation of evidence against Fenech, 63, of Mosta who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill Pace on May 11 at about 2.30 p.m.

He is also pleading not guilty to three counts of the illegal possession of a firearm, breaching the peace and relapsing. At the end of yesterday's sitting, Magistrate Padovani-Grima ruled that there were enough reasons for indictment. Pace is also facing separate court proceedings for attempted murder over the same incident.

He yesterday explained how Dr Spiteri wrote post-dated cheques to pay him but would recall them when they were about to expire and write new ones.

After a couple of months of this, Dr Spiteri had showed him the land in Attard and told him he could use it and do anything he liked with it.

Pace liked the land and agreed to rent it from Dr Spiteri at Lm400 a year for 15 years, deducting Lm6,000 from the Lm15,000 he was owed.

Pace said he had spent a lot of money on the Attard land, building rooms, introducing water and electricity and rebuilding the rubble wall.

Fenech owned the adjacent field and had seen him do all this work.

Meanwhile he had no idea that Fenech owned the land he was working on.

One fine day, Dr Spiteri's secretary called him and told him that Fenech had leased the land to Dr Spiteri and that unless Pace paid Fenech Lm2,200 a year he would have to leave.

Dr Spiteri was in jail at the time.

Pace said he spoke to Fenech who told him to leave unless he paid up. He claimed he was subjected to provocation and Fenech had once even tied his dog to the gate so that he (Pace) could not leave before Fenech arrived and untied the dog.

On the day of the incident, Fenech loaded a revolver in front of him and he decided to take a look at land in Burmarrad offered to him by Dr Spiteri instead of the Attard land.

But the Burmarrad land did not compare to the Attard land and the money he had spent on it.

"I was angry and felt cheated because both Dr Spiteri and Cikku Fenech had seen me spend all that money on the Attard field yet they did not tell me anything."

Pace said he was scared of Fenech because he had heard he was crazy and had killed two people in the past but finally plucked up courage to go and talk to him after a few beers.

He went to Fenech's residence in Mosta but Fenech sent him away and when he insisted, Fenech fired two shots at him.

"I felt the bullets whiz past me and I got scared. When I saw him walk towards me, I reached for my shotgun. He fired another two shots at me, I fired two shots, got in the van and drove off."

Earlier, Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi said Fenech had told police that Pace had gone to his Mosta home and fired at him for no apparent reason.

Fenech told police that he had fired at Pace with the intention to scare him off but not kill him.

The case continues.