The compilation of evidence against two AFM soldiers charged with the murder of a migrant in Hal Far last month starts today.
Magistrate Ian Farrugia will preside over the sitting.
Lorin Scicluna, 22, from Paola, and Francesco Fenech, 21, from Marsascala, are charged with murdering Lassana Cisse, 42, from Ivory Coast, on 6 April in Hal Far, in what is a racially-motivated murder.
They are also accused of seriously injuring two other migrants, Ibrahim Bah from Guinea and Mohammed Jallow from Gambia.
The two soldiers were suspended following a decree issued by the President of the Republic.
10.35am: Session concluded. Case continues on 28 May.
10.30am: Referring to an incident earlier in the year, Arnaud said that they would go to Hal Far to aggravate migrants, yelling at them out the car etc. One time they were passing Triq tal-Gebel, heading to Birzebbugia, and started yelling at a migrant who ignored them. They drove passed him, Arnaud said, turned round facing hm. Scicluna told the police that he went to arrange the stereo and Francesco held the wheel. Scicluna told the police that Francesco turned the wheel into the migrant who crashed into the windscreen, destroying it. Scicluna told Arnaud that the windscreen had to be replaced. Scicluna told the police that he was angry with Francesco that day as well. Arnaud said that Scicluna had also told them that in a separate incident earlier in the year, they chased down a migrant and broke his bicycle.
Lorin Scicluna
10.28am: Scicluna told Arnaud that they they drove towards Scicluna’s home on the night of the shooting, with Francesco parking his car outside the house. He said that they picked up the gun, and removed the number plates in a garage on Triq Duminku Mintof, and the gun case was passed on to Francesco, who was the passenger. He said that when arriving at Hal Far, he remembers Francesco having the gun loaded, going near towards the barracks, and went to find a cat. They found no cat, he said, but added that Francesco guided him to another area. As they were driving, he said, they saw Cisse who the accused confirmed they did not know, Francesco fired two shots in his direction out the window, Scicluna told the police. The police were told that Scicluna saw the migrant raise his hands to his head after the first shot, and then fall after the second. He said he was angry with Francesco, and that while he didn’t like migrants, he would never have resulted in killing someone. He said that Francesco told him to shut up or he would also shoot him. He said that there were two other migrants walking, and Francesco fired four shots at them.
10.25am: Arnaud said that Scicluna said there were a number of times they went to shoot birds, and have also killed cats with their air rifle. He said that on this day they wanted to use a gun to see the effect on a cat.
10.15am: At a point in time he said that once he lent his car to a third person, a foreigner who he does not know who he was, to go and meet with his girlfriend, adding that he was offered €1,000 in return for lending him his car. Arnaud said that Scicluna told the police that on the night of the crime, the same man approached him, offering him €2,000. Scicluna told the police that he was going to go shooting that day, and forgot the gun and ammo in the car. When his car was returned, Scicluna told the police that he had heard of the crime the next day, checking his gun and found some ammo missing. Scicluna told the police that when he heard that the police were looking for a car with fitting the description of his car, he bought and stuck on a mirror and made some other changes. The police told Scicluna that the story did not make sense, and Scicluna said he did not file a report as he did not know who the foreign man was. Scicluna said he was willing to take the police to the spot where he met the man. The police challenged him with lying, and said that he was in fact in the car when Cisse was killed, and that Francesco Fenech was with him, who was the man who killed the migrant.
10.10am: The girlfriend told the police that her boyfriend did not really like migrants, as according to him they come to Malta and pretend like they own the place, Arnaud said. He said that he asked her about Francesco, and said that he also doesn’t like migrants. He said that Scicluna was interrogated, and it was all recorded, and the accused’s lawyer was present. His job is as a mechanic at Safi, and works with the Army on weekdays, Arnaud said. At around 10pm on the day of the murder, he finished work at the pastizzeria in Attard, and that Francesco was near him at the time. He confirmed that only he uses the car and that it was never stolen. Scicuna at first denied being involved, Arnaud said. “But he confirmed that he does not like blacks. He said that in his work he did not have anything to do with migrants.
10.01am: Background checks on Scicluna showed four firearms registered, including a CZ 9mm, which was seized for ballistics testing, Arnaud said.
Francesco Fenech
9.55am: The police then found 23 such vehicles registered in the Tarxien-Fgura area, and the surrounding area. He said that with the aid of Transport Malta, they used automatic number plate recognition through a system available on Triq Aldo Moro in Marsa, which had also taken images of the car since the beginning of the year. They then started a process of elimination, using the distinctive marks which are present on the Toyota Starlet used by the accused. He said that the car was caught a number of times heading to the south of Malta. The car belongs to Lorin Scicluna, one of the accused, he said. The car was caught on this system on the day of the crime, passing from Aldo Moro in Marsa heading south. He said that the police approached Scicluna’s home slowly and took note of the car. The car was slightly modified quickly to try and hide certain obvious identifiers, he said.
9.48am: Inspector Arnaud said that the CCTV showed the victim, Cisse walking at around 11pm. Two minutes after, the car can be seen, and then 20 seconds after two men walking, who looked back together at the same time, and the police suspect that is the exact time the shooting took place. The CCTV camera also helped identify some marks on the Toyota Starlet, which helped lead the police to the car. No other cars passed in that direction around the time of the shooting, he said. There were around 300 vehicles of the same model registered in Malta, and the list was sorted by locality. After the shots, CCTV cameras were used to identify the route the car took. Footage from 55 CCTV systems was reviewed, he said. The car went down Triq tal-Gebel, then Triq iz-Zurrieq, he said, and certain distinctive marks helped the police follow the car via the cameras. The car went up the Ghar Dalam road in Birzebbugia, and then went on Triq-Tal-Barrani. The car later turned towards Tarxien. Triq Sorijiet was where the trail via cameras was lost, inspector Arnaud said.
9.40am: The autopsy revealed Lassana Cisse had a bullet in his left temple. The police did a background check with the foreign authorities and it resulted they did not have any troubled backgrounds. The murdered migrantysmight have been heading home at the time since he seemed to be walking in that direction. He was carrying identification documents with him.
9.36am: One of the two injured migrants said the persons in the car were white-skinned, the driver was young, dark, and had a small moustache or a goatee, the inspector says.
One of the injured migrants was hit in the buttocks and the bullet exited his body. The other was hit in the pelvis and bullet was lodged at the right side. He had to be operated that same night and the bullet was removed.
9.34am: The injured migrants had moved to Malta from Italy. On the fateful night they had gone to watch a Spanish league match in Birżebbuġa. They told police they did not know the victim.
"Suddenly a car drove by, slowed down. They heard two shots, then another two. One of them said it was a small white car. The shots came from driver’s side," Inspector Arnaud testifies.
"They believed Malta to be a safe place. That’s what made them come to Malta."
9.30am: An Ecabs driver and a woman driver spotted the bodies and called for help. Migrants immediately informed the police of the drive-by shooting. The police started looking at footage captured by CCTV cameras to better reconstruct the incident.
9.25am: The police covered a corpse with a white sheet. Blood was trickling out into the road with two 9mm cartridges found in the vicinity. Two other migrants were found injured nearby. Four other cartridges were found on site.
9.22am: Taking the witness stand, Inspector Keith Arnaud says on April 6 he was informed around 11.10pm of a shooting in Triq il-Ġebel, Ħal Far. It is the road which leads from the Jobs Plus headquarters to Birzebbugia.
9.10am: Relatives of the accused gather in the court room, followed by the two suspects.
Lawyer Giannella de Marco is appearing for Francesco Fenech while Kris Busietta, Julian Farrugia and Franco Debono appear for Lorin Scicluna.
Inspectors Keith Arnaud and Trevor Micallef are prosecuting.
Arthur Azzopardi is parte civile for the victim’s family.