Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1431464
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 NOVEMBER 2021 NEWS Sale tale quale of a vehicle The Office of the Attorney General is receiving offers for the sale tale quale of a Honda Accord, registered in 2010. Sealed offers will be received at the following address: Head Corporate Services Office of the Attorney General 53, Admiralty House, South Street Valletta, VLT1101. by NOT later than Friday 3 rd December 2021. Interested parties may inspect the vehicle on Wednesday 24 th November 2021 at our offices between 0900hrs and 1200hrs. Offers below Eur 4,700 will not be considered. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Prior to his transfer from head of the drugs squad, Theu- ma was also investigating an alleged purchase of 100g of cocaine that Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind in the Caruana Galizia assassination, had made on the darkweb. The investigation was instigated from claims made by Fenech himself in the phone conversa- tions that were extracted from his mobile phone. Muscat's testimony lifted the lid on the workings of a crim- inal gang based at the potato shed in Marsa with a strong connection to brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, known as Tal-Maksar, from Żebbuġ. The Degiorgio brothers are accused of planting and trigger- ing the bomb that killed Carua- na Galizia. The Agius brothers and their associate Jamie Vella are facing separate proceedings for involvement in the murders of Caruana Galizia and lawyer Carmel Chircop, the latter a major creditor of the bankrupt More Supermarkets chain. Vella and Robert Agius are accused of supplying the bomb that was used by the Degiorgios and Muscat to blow up Caruana Galizia. Muscat pleaded guilty to the Caruana Galizia murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a plea bargain agreement. Muscat revealed that the gang had agreed on a €150,000 price for the assassination with mid- dleman Melvin Theuma, who turned State's evidence to tes- tify against the alleged master- mind, the Tumas magnate Yor- gen Fenech. Muscat also revealed that the gang got to know of their im- pending arrest in December 2017, some three weeks before. Muscat told the court that Al- fred Degiorgio 'il-Fulu' had told him about the upcoming ar- rest after receiving information from former minister Chris Cardona. Muscat also spoke of a seper- ate plot to kill Caruana Galizia back in 2015, which he claims was initiated by lawyer David Gatt, a former legal associate of Cardona. Muscat testified that he once took George Degiorgio to Portomaso to meet Cardona "because of Daphne". The plan was eventually aborted because no payment was ever made. 1994 attack on drugs investi- gator Malta has a prior history of at- tacks on police officers. In 2010, the drug traffick- er Emanuel Camilleri, known as Leli l-Bully, lost his appeal against a 35-year jail term for planting a bomb outside the house of a prominent drugs squad investigator back in May 1994. He was found guilty by a jury in January 2005 of trying to kill now former Commissioner of Police Michael Cassar and his family, by placing a bomb out- side their Żabbar home. He was also found guilty of trafficking in heroin and cocaine. Camill- eri had been jailed for 35 years and fined €116,500. The explosion took place at 1:35am on 23 May, 1994, leav- ing a crater right outside the house, with bits of metal found scattered at the site, added to the device in order to cause as much damage as possible. Cassar had been in the vice squad since September 1993, during which time he conclud- ed about 70 cases, some of them dealing with high profile traf- fickers. The explosion case remained unsolved until 1998 because no witnesses came forward. In June 1998, a certain Marco Ab- dilla came forward and released a police statement in which he said that, in May 1994, Camill- eri had approached him to plant a bomb in exchange for cocaine. Abdilla said he turned down the request and Camilleri later told him he had done the job him- self. At the time, Camilleri was a licensed fireworks enthusiast and also worked in a quarry, where he would have had ac- cess to explosives. Murder plot targeted head of drugs squad 59 new COVID-19 cases were registered on Thursday, figures published by the Health Minis- try show. A death of a 71-year-old man was registered in the last 24-hours, with the total num- ber of deaths now standing at 463. Active cases stand at 766 after 45 recoveries were registered. Hospitalisations are current- ly in decline, with 10 patients being cared for at Mater Dei Hospital, of which two are in the ITU. Until yesterday, 924,089 vac- cine doses were administered, of which 90,524 were booster doses. COVID-19: Man, 71, passes away, cases still on the rise MATTHEW AGIUS A 42-year-old motorist has been cleared of the involuntary hom- icide of an elderly man, who died after being run over whilst crossing Mdina road in 2009. Salvatore Grima, 73, died in hospital shortly after being struck by a Fiat Punto driven by Robert Micallef. Grima had been crossing the busy thor- oughfare to get to his car, hav- ing bought a bag of date frit- ters (imqaret) from a roadside stall on 27 November 2009 at around 11am. Paramedics had found the victim, face down in a pool of blood, but still alive. He was rushed to hospital, but later succumbed to his extensive in- juries. Emergency physician Dr. Jonathan Joslin, who had treated the victim at the emer- gency department, testified that Grima had suffered fractures and extensive internal injuries, notably tears to his aorta and heart. Micallef's windscreen was completely shattered by the impact. He told police at the scene that the victim's crossing had been hidden from view by a truck travelling in the opposite direction. Suddenly finding the victim in his path, Micallef had braked but was unable to avoid the impact. Police had also spoken to a passenger in the victim's car, who told them that they had decided to stop and buy some imqaret from a vendor who had set up his stall on the other side of the road. Grima had stopped his car at the side of the road and needed to cross to the other side. The passenger said he then heard tyres screeching and saw his friend on the ground. An expert appointed by the magisterial inquiry into the fatal incident had told the court that the imqaret vendor, who had no permit to set up there, had pre- viously been warned that he was creating a serious hazard. In the absence of a zebra crossing in the area, the victim would have had to drive up to the Saqqajja roundabout and back down in order to avoid crossing the ar- terial road. The speed limit on that par- ticular road was 80 km/hr. Tyre marks indicating heavy braking stretched back 40 metres from the point of impact. The court expert had said in his report that the car had been travelling at 90 km/hr before braking and hitting with the victim at 65km/ hr, but under cross-examina- tion and after being present- ed with the length of the skid marks, on the witness stand the expert testified that the initial speed was closer to 74km/hr. This discrepancy, togeth- er with a lack of eyewitnesses, made it difficult for the prose- cution to prove its case, said the magistrate. The court observed that there was also an element of contrib- utory negligence on the part of the victim which emerged from the acts of the inquiry. Micallef's lawyer had also raised a plea of prescription, arguing that the accused had been charged in 2015 over an incident which occurred in 2009. He pointed out that the offences with which he was ac- cused, had a prescriptive period of 5 years, which rendered the charges time-barred. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, having taken all this into account, declared the ac- cused not guilty and discharged him. Inspector Luke Bonello prose- cuted. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi was defence counsel. Motorist who ran over man crossing busy road, cleared of involuntary homicide