A neighbour has testified that he heard a loud bang followed by a faint cry of pain at around the time a man was fatally shot inside an apartment block in Vittoriosa.

Kyle Mifsud, 33, from Cospicua, was shot in the abdomen with a hunting rifle on September 21 and died in hospital the following day. Salvino Mangion, 71, has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Vincent Spiteri, who lives in the same block of flats as the accused, told the court on Friday that he was at home playing solitaire when he heard what he initially thought was a heavy object falling or the lift crashing down the shaft. At the same moment, he said, he heard a weak whimper.

Spiteri said he opened his front door and called out into the common area to ask whether anyone needed help, but received no reply. He then returned to his flat, thinking nothing more of the incident.

Shortly afterwards, his son alerted him to the presence of police vehicles and ambulances outside the building. Looking out of the window, Spiteri saw a man being placed on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance. He recognised the victim as someone he had occasionally seen in the common areas of the block and just outside the building.

In earlier court sittings, other residents described ongoing concerns about the presence of Mifsud and his partner outside the apartment block. Witnesses said the couple frequently loitered in the area, asked residents for money, and were suspected of stealing items from shared spaces. Several neighbours testified that Mangion had been harassed by a group that included Mifsud in the weeks and months preceding the shooting.

Among those witnesses was Spiteri's son, who told the court that Mifsud's partner, Donna Camilleri, had become a persistent source of tension for residents. 

Mangion is being represented by lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit.