During a crime conference held at Victoria police station yesterday, assistant commissioner Manwel Cassar said that around 10.10pm on Tuesday, the police received information that a shot had been fired in St Mary’s Street, Marsalforn.

Upon further investigation, the police discovered Dr Grech’s body in a garage situated close to his residence. His car was parked in an adjacent garage and his briefcase was close to the body. Dr Grech resided in an apartment block close by on the third floor with his family.

Assistant commissioner Paul Sammut confirmed that gunshot residue was found in the garage and also said that the shot was most probably fired in the said garage. Mr Cassar said that a considerable amount of blood was found in Triq ix-Xtut (at the corner with St Mary Street), indicating that a struggle had taken place with the victim and his unknown assassin.

Mr Sammut confirmed that some people had already been arrested in connection with the case and were being held for further questioning.

Answering questions from journalists, the police officials did not reveal anything of note apart from the information that was already available regarding the circumstances of the murder. It was, however, confirmed that the area was fairly deserted at this time of the year, and that Dr Grech was a popular figure who was not considered to have been in any danger of being murdered.

Asked by The Malta Independent whether there was a possibility that the shot was fired in Triq ix-Xtut with the victim crawling to the garage before he died, Mr Cassar said that the police were excluding nothing but neither could they confirm anything until the investigations were concluded. Mr Cassar added that the autopsy was to take place later in the day.

Investigations are being conducted by Assistant Commissioners Manwel Cassar and Paul Sammut, Gozo Superintendent Peter Camilleri, Superintendent Pierre Calleja and Inspectors Antonello Grech and Christopher Pullicino. The magisterial inquiry is being carried out by Dr Tonio Micallef Trigona.

The police also appealed to the general public to pass on any information they might have on the case immediately.

The woman was found dead in the passenger seat of a Hyundai Stellar, while the man was found dead outside the vehicle, with a shotgun on the ground in front of him, at about midday.

The man has been identified as 60-year-old Joseph Attard, known as il-bomba, a local man who regularly hunted birds in the area. He was recently widowed and was quite well-known to police.

Although the indications are that the man murdered the woman by shooting her twice in the neck and then turned the weapon on himself, police are still treating the case as a very mysterious one as certain facts just did not seem to add up, a source said.

The police were alerted to the macabre case at about midday when a man reported that he had seen a man lying in a pool of blood with a shotgun in front of him in Triq Telleritu.

The police rushed to the scene to investigate and when they arrived, they found the young woman in the passenger seat of a Hyundai Stellar.

Sources gave conflicting information about the presence of drugs on the woman. One source said that sachets of heroin had been found in the car while others said no drugs were found. Drug Squad police officers were, however, present at the scene.

The police admitted that until they had details of toxicology, autopsy and ballistics reports, the investigation could not establish anything concrete. However, the fact that the man had a gunshot entry wound under his chin indicated that he had probably shot himself.

Certain facts, such as that there was no blood on the windows of the vehicle, coupled with the fact that shotgun wounds on the woman were on the right-hand side of her chest close to the collar bone, have stumped investigators. Another curious piece of evidence was the burn mark on the woman’s body from the shotgun muzzle. This suggested that the shots had been fired from extremely close range and that the hot metal of the gun barrel burnt her skin. Sources said that the couple had probably been dead for about four hours prior to their discovery.

The police are keenly awaiting a toxicology report on the bodies of both the woman and the man to see whether any narcotics were present in the blood.

They will also be awaiting a detailed report from ballistics expert Maurice Calleja, who will attempt to establish, from the shape of the wounds and the shot inside the body, from what angle the shots had been fired and from what distance.

Duty magistrate Silvio Meli appointed a number of other experts to assist in the inquiry, including forensic pathologist Mario Xerri, Edward Zammit Lewis and architect Richard Aquilina. The CID, Drug Squad and District Police are investigating, together with Deputy Commissioner Joe Cachia and Assistant Commissioner Alfred Abela.