The attempted murder of the prime minister's aide was an unusual crime in Malta as it was a Mafia-style case where the person commissioning the crime kept aloof, making it more difficult for the police to solve the crime, Deputy Attorney General Silvio Camilleri told the court yesterday.

Dr Camilleri was addressing jurors at the start of the trial of Meinrad Calleja, 41, who is pleading not guilty to complicity in the attempted murder of Richard Cachia Caruana just over nine years ago.

Calleja allegedly gave instructions and promised rewards for the crime to take place.

The prosecutor told the court that although Calleja was facing only one charge of complicity in attempted murder, this was the most serious crime because trying to kill but not managing to for reasons beyond you was as morally bad as a murder.

"A stab wound Cachia Caruana suffered was providentially millimetres away from a main artery leading to the heart. The victim resisted, the knife broke, people started shouting and an intensive medical intervention took place to save his life," Dr Camilleri said.

He gave an overview of the case and described how Calleja incited Joseph Fenech to commit the crime, then strengthened his will to do it and promised to stand by him and compensate him after the crime was committed.

Dr Camilleri said Fenech had initially refused and later accepted but in turn commissioned someone else to do it.

Calleja had shown Fenech where Cachia Caruana lived and Fenech later took Carmel Attard, the person who was to commit the murder, to show him these same places. Attard had also involved Ian Farrugia. He had also pointed Cachia Caruana out to them so that they knew who they were meant to kill.

Attard and Farrugia tried to kill Cachia Caruana on December 18, 1994 by stabbing him outside his Mdina home.

Dr Camilleri said that as Cachia Caruana parked his car on that fateful night he noted two suspicious looking persons, who later resulted to be Farrugia and Attard. But he still got out of his car and as he was retrieving some clothes from the luggage booth he felt like a punch on the back, which was actually a stab. It was normal for stab victims to feel only a punch initially.

The victim turned and started to kick to defend himself and told his assailants to leave him alone as he never did anything to them. His resistance led to the knife breaking but the stab wound was close to his heart.

The fact that the knife remained inside his body served as a stopper and prevented further bleeding. Another part of the blade was found on the scene of the crime but the handle was never found.

"The assailants were sure they were going to kill Cachia Caruana as they were not even hooded because they were sure they were not leaving any traces behind. But the fact that the knife broke and that Nicholas Jensen, who had to meet Cachia Caruana, appeared on the scene, made them abandon their plans as they feared they would be recognised," Dr Camilleri said.

After they left, Cachia Caruana realised he had been stabbed as he started bleeding. He phoned for help, was taken to hospital and the surgical intervention saved his life, Dr Camilleri said.

He said there was always the suspicion that the crime was related to Cachia Caruana's duties and, because of the seriousness of the crime, the then Police Commissioner, George Grech, and then Superintendent (now Deputy Commissioner) Joe Cachia took investigations into their hands.

Fenech was among those arrested by the police and Cachia Caruana had immediately excluded him as he knew him and would have recognised him.

The prime minister had taken active interest in the case involving his personal assistant, who gave him advice on several matters. The prime minister had an interest in ensuring that Cachia Caruana regained his confidence in order to enable him to continue giving him valuable advice and to see the case solved so that he would have peace of mind that the assailants, still at large, would not try to kill him again.

Dr Camilleri said it was later learned that Fenech might know something about the case and it took time until he started giving indications about who was involved. Farrugia and Attard were investigated and admitted their involvement.

"What Fenech said was substantiated by the persons he indicated but he was reluctant to say in court what he had told the police. Following an identification parade, Jensen said Attard resembled one of the people whom he had seen on the night of the stabbing but that was not enough for a prosecution to take place.

"The prime minister wanted to make Fenech testify but because he could incriminate himself the only way to make him testify was to grant him a presidential pardon," Dr Camilleri said.

Information given by Fenech led to further investigations and a palm print found on Cachia Caruana's car matched that of Farrugia.

Following interrogation, both Attard and Farrugia admitted that Fenech had commissioned them to kill Cachia Caruana on Calleja's instructions, Dr Camilleri said.

A number of experts started testifying in the afternoon, among them the director of the forensic lab, Anthony Abela Medici, who is due to continue testifying this morning.

Deputy Attorney general Silvio Camilleri and Senior Counsel to the Republic Donatella Frendo Dimech are prosecuting.

Dr Manwel Mallia and Dr Ramona Frendo are appearing for Calleja. Dr Tonio Azzopardi is appearing for Cachia Caruana.