A man allegedly involved in a shooting incident in Senglea late on Sunday was denied bail upon his arraignment on Tuesday.

He is believed to have fired at his girlfriend, but missed. She has still not been traced.

Melvin Debono, 29, from Paola, was tracked down by the police shortly after driving away from Two Gates Street, where he allegedly fired two shots, during a heated row with his girlfriend. 

The suspect aggressor was tracked down by police who were alerted to the scene of the incident.

A search of his Mercedes yielded a Walther P99 pistol, an iron truncheon and some €18,700 in cash. 

Prosecuting inspector Clayton Camilleri said that a bullet was found embedded in a wall near the scene of the shooting, while a bullet casing was discovered on site. 

However, the accused’s girlfriend was nowhere to be seen and investigators had not yet managed to contact her to summon her to testify. 

The accused pleaded not guilty to threatening and attacking the woman, possessing an unlicenced firearm, carrying the weapon while committing a crime against the person, firing the weapon in an inhabited area and breaching bail. 

A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution, arguing that the shooting had occurred in an inhabited area and a number of witnesses were still to testify. 

Defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that a number of charges related to contraventions. Others were listed as alternatives (to other charges). And although one of the charges related to the attack, the alleged victim had not suffered any injuries.

After hearing submissions by both parties, the court, presided over by magistrate Charmaine Galea, turned down the request for bail in view of the fact that the alleged victim has yet to be traced by the police and testify.

Moreover, one of the charges involved a breach of an earlier bail decree, the court observed. 

Lawyer Marion Camilleri was also defence counsel. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.