Testimony continued to be heard this morning in the case of 25-year-old Sylvester Farrugia who was found dead in the early hours of the morning on 12 February, with the defence questioning any links between the victim and the accused.

Deniro Magri, 27, from Marsa, is accused of killing Mr Farrugia, who was found murdered near a stolen vehicle in Marsa.

Mr Magri is pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him. He is pleading self-defence, arguing he had opened fire after unknown persons, one of them thought to be the victim through evidence found in his garage, tried to set his house door on fire.

Throughout the compilation of evidence, it was found that on the night of the murder, there was an attempt to set fire to Mr Magri’s house, while his partner, child and he were at home.

In the accused’s testimony, he said that he heard people behind his front door. Prior to this, it was found that Mr Magri told an inspector that he had previously been threatened, leading him to purchase a pistol and install CCTV cameras outside his home. Therefore, after hearing the people behind his front door, he admitted to running upstairs to a window and firing shots. In a previous hearing, Mr Magri said that he heard about somebody being shot the following day, from local media reports.

Inspector Keith Arnaud previously testified that the accused, while being questioned, told him that he ran downstairs after firing two shots, and found a tyre by his front door and a jerry-can, which he threw away in an open area near December 13 Road. He also said that he threw away his pistol. The former were found however the pistol remains missing.

Lawyers Gianella de Marco and Franco Debono, representing the accused, stressed that Malta’s criminal code provides for justification in relation to self-defence of an individual, more so self-defence of an individual and his family. They also argued that there was no blood found outside the front door and in the street outside, and that while residents heard gun shots, they did not hear any cries of pain as a result from being shot. Dr de Marco went further by arguing that if the men complicit in the arson attempt continued to flee after the gun shot, this would indicate that nobody was injured when Mr Magri opened fired.

It was also argued that just because the only reported shooting on the night of the murder happened outside the accused’s house, it does not necessarily indicate that it was the only shooting to take place that night.

The proximity of the discovery of Mr Farrugia’s body to the accused’s residence was, however, pointed out by the prosecution during their closing arguments.

Between the accused’s front door and an outer aluminium gate investigating police found a sack with black tape, smelling of petrol.  

When the police later managed to identify the murder victim, and on searching his garage in Żurrieq, they found a sack and black tape very similar to the one found outside Mr Magri's front door. This is how the link has been established between the victim and the arson attempt on the accused’s residence.

On its part, the prosecution argued that it is not for the courts to get into the merits of whether Mr Magri opened fire in self-defence or not, but in order to counter the defence’s claims, it stressed that authorities have not established whether the shots were fired as the unknown men were fleeing from the residence or when they were attempted to commit the act.

The prosecution also took umbrage with the claim that there was no link between Mr Farrugia and Mr Magri. It was found that a third individual who was friends with the accused owned a bar in Zurrieq. The prosecution argued that, while it had been established that the victim had frequented that bar, and that the owner of the bar was also known to the victim, it could not be excluded that the victim and the accused had no links.

Inspector Arnaud stressed that the accused, if he really felt that his family and himself were threatened after the arson attempt on his home, he would have filed a police report. 

The victim’s girlfriend testified to say that on the night of the murder, she and Mr Farrugia went for a drink at a bar in Zurrieq. He then drove her home, asked whether she wanted anything to eat, and after she declined he supposedly went to get food. The plan, she said, was for him to come back to her home. His mother began to worry the following morning, when he was nowhere to be found.

Four of the accused’s friends went driving around trying to find Mr Farrugia, which is when they found his abandoned car, the front windows half open, and key in the ignition. It was said that two of the friends drove to the victim’s mother’s house in the car they were searching in, while the other two drove the victim’s abandoned car to the mother’s house. Through various testimony, it was said that all went inside the mother’s house, where police were present, except for the person who also owns the bar in Zurrieq.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi was parte civile for the victim’s family, while Magistrate Aaron Bugeja presided over the case. He is expected to decide whether the accused will be granted bail by tomorrow.