The body of a man allegedly shot dead by his father at the family’s Għaxaq home in August, has been released for burial.

The order was issued by Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia on Wednesday afternoon during a hearing in the ongoing compilation of evidence against 68-year-old Salvu Dalli, who is pleading not guilty to the murder of his 37-year-old son, Antoine.

The victim was allegedly shot in the bathroom and the fatal gunshot wound, in the lower part of his abdomen, had been fired from some metres away, medico-legal expert Mario Scerri testified in court on Wednesday.

Scerri also explained that he had examined the accused, upon a request by his lawyer, and reported that the elderly man had trouble standing as well as poor eyesight. 

Pathologists Ali Safraz and Tiffany Buhagiar also testified that the victim had died almost instantaneously.

In the course of the hearing, defence counsel Lennox Vella pointed out that civilian witnesses listed by the prosecution had not yet been summoned to testify.

Their testimony was one of the factors taken into account both by the Magistrates’ Court as well as by the Criminal Court, when considering the accused’s request for bail, the lawyer argued. 

The court declared that the victim’s body could now be released for burial and put off the case to December 7, urging the prosecution to summon the civilian witnesses.

Inspector Roderick Attard prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono, Kathleen Grima and Francesca Zarb are appearing parte civile.