A general practitioner told a court yesterday that the police arrested two men, suspected to have been involved in an attempted armed robbery, while he was examining one of them at a clinic in Birkirkara.
The patient, Darren Debono, 33, from Marsascala, had a bullet wound embedded in his right cheek. He was allegedly hit during a shoot-out following an attempted armed robbery at the HSBC Centre in Qormi on 30 June.
Testifying in the case against Mr Debono and Vincent Muscat, 48, general practitioner John Zammit Montebello said he received a call on 1 July regarding a patient who had been injured.
When he examined Mr Debono, the doctor realised he had a foreign body in his gums. He told him he would need to have an X-ray done and referred him to another doctor, Pierre Vassallo.
Dr Zammit Montebello went on to say that the patient returned with the X-ray result the following day, accompanied by another man; it was then that the police walked into the clinic (at Rational Pharmacy in Birkirkara) and arrested the men, he said.
Dr Vassallo, who works at Da Vinci Hospital in Birkirkara, said the X-ray result showed that the patient had a bullet and metal fragments in his right cheek.
The hospital’s coordinator, Kathleen Schembri, told the court that Mr Debono had gone to the clinic with three other people on 1 July at about 8pm.
She explained that Mr Debono told them his name was Joe Camilleri, but didn’t present his identity card. She quoted him as saying that he had been working with metal and had been hit by a splinter.
The bullet and fragments were eventually removed by ear, nose and throat (ENT) consultant Eric Farrugia on 3 July, three days after the attempted armed robbery.
The court, presided over by magistrate Edwina Grima, also heard the testimony of the two policemen who were involved in the shoot-out in front of the HSBC Centre in Qormi.
Police constables Kenneth Ciangura and Kurt Gauci had been driving around the area on a routine patrol at about 7.30pm when they received a message from the control room regarding the presence of a suspicious car with three people inside.
The police constables said they saw a white Peugeot 206 with one person inside, parked outside the HSBC Centre, and as soon as he noticed the police car, he sped off.
The police followed the car, but lost track of it soon after and decided to turn back since they were originally told there were probably three people in the car.
PC Ciangura told the court that when they went back to the HSBC Centre they noticed three men wearing suits and wigs walking out of the building.
He said he got out of the police car and at one point came face-to-face with the men. As soon as they noticed him, they moved in another direction and soon started firing shots.
The police constable ran back towards the police car and fired two warning shots into the air, but as the shots kept coming from the men’s direction, both he and his colleague started firing back.
PC Ciangura said he had fired 17 shots, while PC Gauci fired another 14, while the alleged robbers fired another 30 shots or so. He said he had no bullets left while his colleague had just one.
The policemen then saw a van drive past their car, and the alleged robbers made a getaway. The policemen tried chasing them, but the van soon disappeared.
Asked if he had realised that one of the alleged robbers had been hit, PC Ciangura said he could not tell.
The court also heard the testimony of Mario Bartolo, security manager at the HSBC Centre, who explained that members of staff have access to different parts of the building. The rest of his testimony was heard behind closed doors due to sensitive information.
Darren Debono and Vincent Muscat stand charged with the attempted murder of the police constables, and with holding police constable Dominic Bugeja, who was guarding the entrance to the bank, and taking his pistol.
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