A man accused of murdering his son had filed several reports to the police claiming he was assaulted and threatened, a police inspector told a court on Wednesday.

Salvu Dalli, 68, stands accused of shooting his son Antoine, 37 in cold blood on August 7 at his Ghaxaq home.  Antoine was found dead in a shower having suffered a single shot in the stomach. 

During the first sitting of the compilation of evidence against Salvu Dalli, prosecuting officer Keith Arnaud explained the troubled relationship between the father and son, backed by a number of police reports filed at Zejtun police station and confirmed by the accused during his interrogation.

The court also heard how Dalli told officers who arrived on site minutes after the shooting that he had shot his son.

Arnaud said he examined CCTV footage from a nearby residence and could observe Antoine Dalli arriving at his father’s home on a bicycle, slamming it on the ground before he ran inside. Nine minutes later, he could observe Salvu Dalli emerging from his house and walking towards a neighbour’s house from where he called the police and paramedics.

He said that Salvu Dalli told the police that he was in bed when he heard his son shouting and running up the stairs, giving him enough time to load the shotgun he kept by his bed. As soon as he entered his bedroom, his son lunged at him, and he pulled the trigger.

However, this version did not tally with the bloodstains found on the ground inside the house since no blood was found inside the bedroom but only at the entrance of the room, in the corridor, and then blood splatters leading to the bathroom where Antoine Dalli was found in a sitting position inside the shower.

Arnaud said the shotgun was found on Salvu Dalli’s double bed and the accused was taken in for forensic testing for gunshot residue.

Arnaud explained that Salvu Dalli had three sons: Silvan, Christian and Antoine. He said he had spoken to Antoine Dalli’s partner and mother of their two children, aged four and three. She told the police that they spent some time living in the house where the crime took place while Salvu Dalli moved to a room in a field in Zurrieq.

But some two weeks before the incident, Salvu Dalli ordered his son to leave the house.

She said Antoine Dalli started crying when she told him that she had to move out to go live with her mother and he blamed his father for separating him from his children.

Arnaud said there were a number of police reports in the police database, with the first one filed on July 6 when Salvu Dalli claimed his son had assaulted him at his house. Charges were issued against Antoine Dalli over the assault.

On August 6, the day before the murder, Salvu Dalli filed another report against his son claiming there had been an argument with his son.

On the morning of the murder, Antoine’s brother, Silvan, filed a police report over threatening messages he had received from his brother.

During his police interrogation, Salvu Dalli told the police about his son’s drug addiction, saying he used to accompany him to Caritas meetings but since June, his behaviour had taken a turn for the worse.

He complained with the interrogators that the police had not done enough to protect him from his son and that his son had often told him he would end up killing him. However, he admitted to not telling the police about this death threat.

Dalli told police that on that day, he heard his son shouting from outside the house, saying “Today, I will surely kill you”. He heard him running up the stairs so he loaded his shotgun while he was still in bed and pulled the trigger when he lunged on him. Arnaud said there was no blood on the bed.

Dalli told police that he saw his son stumbling towards the bathroom. Antoine even asked him to get him a glass of water but he was scared and left the house. He later asked the police officers who arrived first on the scene whether his son was dead.

Police inspector Fabian Fleri, who was first on the scene, said that when the police arrived,  they could not find the door number they were given, but then he saw the accused on the balcony telling the police “here, here”.

Once inside, Salvu Dalli told him: “I shot him” and later told him that “It has long been coming”. During a search, officers found a penknife in Salvu Dalli’s pocket.

During Wednesday's sitting, Magistrate Marsanne Farrugia upheld a defence request for a psychological examination of the accused to determine whether he was in his right senses when the crime was committed.  

The case continues later this week.

Lawyer Lennox Vella was defence counsel. Lawyers Franco Debono, Francesca Zarb, Amadeus Cachia and Kathleen Calleja Grima appeared parte civile.