One of three men who have been named several times by the PN as being the principal suspects in the political murder of Raymond Caruana is asking to be tried in court in order to be able to clear his name, according to GWU Sunday paper it-Torca.

The newspaper quotes Anthony Carabott, known as ‘it-Toto’, saying that he is fed up of having to carry the heavy burden 30 years after the incident. Raymond Caruana, 26, was killed when unknown assailants opened fire with a submachine gun on the PN club in Gudja on 5 December 1986.   

'It-Toto' told it-Torca that the only way in which he can clear his and his family’s name from the ‘unjust’ pressure is to be arraigned in court.

The GWU paper reported that Mr Carabott as saying that he has been interrogated several times durig the years but that the inquiry has been concluded and nothing has been found to incriminate him.

He said he has maintained his innocence throughout the years and he was only named as a suspect because of a Land Rover he owned (It is claimed that the vehicle drove down the same street where the PN club is on the day of the murder. Raymond Caruana was hit by a shot fired from a moving car.)

“There is nothing to incriminate me. If the police had any evidence against me they would have already taken me to court.” Mr Carabott said he did his own investigations and found out that the inquiry against him was closed “recently.”

He says, however, that this is still not enough to clear his name. “In order for justice to be carried out there has to be someone who says clearly that all investigations on me did not find anything.”

It-Torca says Carabott as well as Edwin Bartolo “l-Qaħbu” and Michael Spiteri “l-Qattus” were often implicated in the case by the PN but the allegations against them were never substantiated.

One man, Nicholas Ellus, was arraigned in connection with the case in 1990 after the police established that he owned the murder weapon but he died of a drug overdose before he could testify.

It-Torca said the police failed to say whether there had been any recent developments in the case.