A CT Scan at Mater Dei Hospital revealed that Fabio Psaila had 55 lead pellets in his body, one of which was lodged close to his liver and could have been fatal, police inspector Anthony Portelli yesterday told the court hearing the compilation of evidence against him.

Mr Psaila stands accused of being involved in a number of major crimes in the past few months, including the foiled attempted hold-up on jeweller Michael Mallia in Attard last month – when he was shot by the jeweller’s son – and the attempted murder of two police officers during the HSBC headquarters attempted hold-up in Qormi last June.

Mr Psaila was yesterday charged with three other offences, adding to his string of 27.

The new charges accuse him of conspiring to commit crimes, committing them within the operative period of a suspended sentence and while he was conditionally discharged by another court.

Mr Psaila was allegedly hit by lead when Silvio Mizzi, the son of jeweller Michael Mizzi who was a victim of the 3 December attempted hold-up, fired a sawn-off shotgun he had seized from one of the suspects.

Some 34 pellets were lodged in his right arm, Inspector Portelli said. Three were deposited in his chest, including one close to his liver. Another 11 were in the right side of his torso, and the rest in his left foot.

Mr Psaila had been a fugitive until 26 December when he gave himself up. He refused legal assistance at the police depot, did not reply to any questions and did not even sign the police statement. The police escorted him to the hospital where X-rays and the CT scan were taken. At that point, Mr Psaila was suffering from pain and tingling in his arm that was not letting him sleep.

The visit to the hospital and police investigations lasted till 2am the following day. That morning, Mr Psaila was taken in for further questioning specifically because the police had evidence that lead pellets were lodged in his body. He again refused legal assistance and failed to answer any questions and refused to sign the five-page statement. To questions about where he was living while he was wanted by the police, Mr Psaila repeatedly replied, “fil-qamar” (on the moon).

The police inspector gave details of the 3 December case. He said Michael Mizzi’s briefcase contained a couple of thousand euros and some jewellery that needed repairs.

Silvio Mizzi, who had handed the shotgun to the police on the scene of crime, did not know precisely how many shots he had fired.

That evening, a number of persons who used to be in the company of Darren Debono it-Topo, who was seriously injured in the leg during the same hold-up, were taken in for questioning.

A Toyota Hi-Lux Lite Ace van was found on fire in Triq Dun Gwann Theuma, Attard, close to where the attempted hold-up had taken place. The van had been stolen from Msida on 29 August and had registration plates of another stolen Mitsubishi van.

The police also traced the shop that sold the shotgun as the owner had not transferred it on to the person who bought it. Attempts to trace the new owner proved futile.

The police were searching for Fabio Psaila while the former inspector-turned-lawyer, David Gatt, was also being investigated. Dr Gatt is separately being charged with involvement in the major crimes Mr Psaila is implicated in.

It occurred to the police that Dr Gatt had asked a person to help the injured Fabio Psaila.

They questioned a certain Josianne Caruana, of Xghajra, allegedly the mother of Mr Psaila’s partner, on his whereabouts. In a statement to the police, she denied allegations that she was harbouring Mr Psaila.

The police conducted searches all over the south of Malta for the accused. He had last signed the bail book at the Hamrun police station on 22 November at 11am, when he was supposed to sign once-a-week.

The Bank of Valletta told the police Mr Psaila had two savings accounts and the last transaction from one of them had taken place on 1 December. Some people who spoke to the police said he was last seen on 2 December, the day before the Attard case. The next day he was supposed to pick up his children yet no one had heard about his whereabouts.

Taking the witness stand, PC 99, Mario Portelli, who had also testified in the compilation of evidence against Dr David Gatt, said he knows Mr Psaila through the lawyer. He had first introduced the two at a Marsascala restaurant some two years ago.

“David always used to tell me he wanted to introduce me with his ‘General’ and he (Mr Psaila) had turned up on a motorbike,” said Mr Portelli.

By that point, he always got to know of crimes committed, mainly from Dr Gatt, at times in the presence of Mr Psaila, after they had taken place. But then he started to tell the police officer of crimes they were contemplating. On 3 December, Mr Portelli was releasing a statement to the police in the presence of Magistrate Giovanni Grixti when the police received a call that a man was injured in Attard as a result of a shooting.

Fabio Psaila referred to the mobile police officer, Mr Portelli, as Pino. That night, he sent him a text message at around 10pm saying, “Pino come va?” (How is it going).

Mr Portelli did not reply to him as he had instructions not to communicate with Mr Psaila or Dr Gatt without the consent of his superiors.

In June, Dr Gatt had met Mr Portelli at a Sliema restaurant and said, among other things, that Fabio Psaila had entered a police cell with clothes and left without them because he had torn them with his teeth and flushed them down the toilet. A police inspector investigating the HSBC case had shown him a video of him entering a clinic with Darren Debono and he had been wearing the same clothes, so he had wanted them.

Fabio Psaila later told Mr Portelli it was time for him to take revenge on the two mobile squad policemen who had foiled that attempt, costing them €6 million. He had also wanted to take revenge on Inspector Mercieca but the time was not yet ripe, although he knew where he lived and had already seen him walking alone in a bypass close to his home town. The Attorney General was also on his list and he knew where he lived too.

On a particular day last month, Dr Gatt went to meet Mr Portelli outside his house after sending him several text messages which went unanswered. Placing the police officer’s phone in a glove compartment together with two others and turning the car stereo sound full-on, Dr Gatt told him that it-Topo was in hospital and he needed a doctor for Fabio Psaila, whom he was hiding.

He had also told him that jeweller Michael Mizzi would have a 9-millimetre pistol emptied in his chest one day. Mr Mizzi was one of the worst persons one could deal with: “mill-aghar, kelb u ahdar”, Dr Gatt had said, explaining he knew him from when he served as a police inspector in Rabat. The police had found Lm80,000 for him, equivalent to €186,349, but he had given them nothing for their services.