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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2014 News 6 Court starts hearing compilation of evidence in Sheehan case MATTHEW AGIUS MAGISTRATE Aaron Bugeja yester- day began hearing the compilation of evidence against Police Constable Paul Sheehan, the personal driver of then Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, who is accused of shooting at an unarmed car driver after a traffic incident. Superintendent Sandra Mamo was the first to take the witness stand, tell- ing the court that, on 19 November at around 9.10pm, she was informed by Commissioner Ray Zammit that someone had collided with the minis- ter's car and that the driver had fired his gun. She immediately informed AC Martin Sammut and the person who hit the car was arrested and taken to a police station. As a policeman, the minister and a shooting were involved, an inquiry had to be held, she said. Stephen Morrison Smith was taken to the police station by the Rapid Inter- vention Unit (RIU). Supt Mamo said she had informed PS Sandra Mangion that nothing was to be moved as an inquiry was to take place. Mangion in- formed her that the car, on order of the police commissioner, was to be towed to the CID yard, but she asked her to keep it there for the inquiry. She then called Acting Commissioner Zammit, who confirmed that nothing was to be moved before the inquiring magis- trate arrived. On instructions of the Commis- sioner, Mamo then called Saviour Zammit of the CID to attend the scene. When she arrived at the scene, she saw Smith's vehicle already on the low-loader. "What have you done?" she asked him. Assistant Commissioner Sandro Zahra was already there as he had arrived at approximately 10pm. She was told that there had been a hit-and-run, in which Smith's car had hit the minister's and subsequently shots were fired in the direction of the car when it was in the vicinity of the national pool. Sheehan, 40, was taken to the scene to walk them through the incident. Duty Magistrate Natasha Sciberras appointed several experts, who ar- rived on the scene in a short time. Mamo said the minister's car had a scrape along the side and a broken mirror. Smith's car also had a scrape and a broken mirror on the passenger side. She noted that in the rear right mudguard there was a hole and on the back windscreen at the top there was another hole. The weapon used was in the trunk of the minister's car and she placed an officer on guard until ballis- tics experts arrived on the scene. Sheehan had told her that he was at his mother's house, in Vjal Cottoner, when he heard an impact and saw the collision. The car drove off and he fol- lowed it to Kappara. Sheehan said he "did not know exactly in which road he had fired the shots". The police started looking for spent cartridges. Sheehan told police that he was issued a Glock pistol with 17 rounds. Ballistics experts found 15 left in the magazine. Smith was taken to the St Julian's police station for a breathalyser test as they suspected that he was under the influence. He refused the test and was taken back to Sliema police station. The inquiring magistrate wanted Smith and Sheehan to be taken to the Msida police station. Smith was asked again to take a breathalyser test, and on this occasion he accepted. The test registered a reading of 109mg. He was asked to nominate a lawyer and he asked for Manuel Mallia. It was explained to him that Mallia could not represent him as he was a cabinet minister, however, because of his in- ebriation, Smith could not understand this. Sheehan asked to be represented by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, who arrived shortly after. The magistrate then requested the policeman who was on duty at the control room to explain exactly what happened during Sheehan's 112 call. Mamo said she was told that on the evening of the shooting there were people who were walking their dogs and had seen what was going on. They were questioned. She told the court how, on 20 No- vember, Smith too was spoken to, who once again refused legal assistance. He had stated that he was drinking at Black Gold and left around 8.30pm. He stopped to buy water at Triq Wied il-Kappara, but miscalculated and struck a "dark-coloured vehicle". He told the police that he had heard a commotion and saw a man in civil- ian clothes with a firearm in his right hand and a mobile phone in his left. He told the man to put the gun away and fled the scene. As he drove off, he heard shots fired at him. The car followed him on to the bypass. In the tunnels, the car stopped suddenly and he was "relieved when he heard police sirens". He was arrested. Sheehan was cautioned and asked for lawyer Arthur Azzopardi and re- leased a statement in the presence of his lawyer and several police officers. Mamo told the court that in that statement, Sheehan claimed that he was at his mother's home after work- ing till 8pm. He heard a noise and when he had gone out to look, a cer- tain Daniel Grech pointed out that someone had either hit the minister's car or Grech's car. Sheehan picked up his firearm and keys from his mother's house and gave chase. The chase led through Sliema Road and Nazju Ellul Street. Smith forced the car to stop. Sheehan said Smith had a bottle. Sheehan announced that he was an armed policeman, but Smith drove off. Sheehan claimed he shot at the tyres. He called 112 and asked for assistance from the RIU. Asked why he shot at the vehicle, he said that Smith was a danger to himself and others. The car was finally stopped at the Regional Road tunnels. Civilians helped Sheehan apprehend the drunk driver. Lawyer Joe Giglio asked her about the number plates on the car that Sheehan was driving. It was leased and had two number plates, GM14, for official duties. "It was not using the of- ficial plates at the time", said Inspector Mamo. The only difference between the two testimonies was where the initial hit and run had taken place, with Sheehan saying it occurred outside his mother's house and Smith saying it was in Kap- para Road. The victim, Glaswegian Stephen Morrison Smith, took the witness stand, testifying in English, for which the accused required a translator. Morrison Smith said he is a director of two companies which manufacture speakers. On the night of the incident, he said, he was at the Black Gold pub in Sliema, and had left at around 8.30pm. He stopped at a confectionery to buy water on the way and drove along Rue D'Argens. He told the court that he couldn't find a parking space so he decided to go to another confectionery near his house. He clipped the wing mirror and side of a parked car and stopped to exchange details and to arrange the repair of the car. "At that point I heard loud shout- ing in a very aggressive manner as I was getting out of the car. I could see a man running towards me shouting in a fit of rage. He was holding a gun. At this point, I genuinely feared for my life and decided to leave the scene." Questioned by Giglio, he said the man was wearing a white shirt and dark trousers. He did not identify himself as a police officer. Such was the shock he was under, said the witness, that he could not remember whether he had replied or said anything. He drove off to the end of the street, "just before I started turning I heard the first shot", adding that it was a quiet street in a residential area. The second shot came as he hit the corner. He hadn't realised that his car had been hit. He estimated that the man was 50 to 55 feet away. "My intention was to get away from him". He said a car was following him, which he recognised as the Mercedes whose wing mirror he had clipped. He turned on to the regional road roundabout and drove towards the Sta Venera tunnels. Inexplicably, all power went off in the car and it stopped. He was relieved when he saw the flashing blue lights of a police car. He was surprised when the police confronted him and made him lie face down on the ground. "I was shouted at, 'don't move, don't speak, don't do anything'." He was told to keep his face on the ground and not even to tilt his head sideways. He was taken to three police stations that evening, electing to take a breath- alyser test. Gzira resident Lydia Farrugia Sam- mut testified that she was walking her dog with her mother at around 8.30pm and as they were returning home, they saw two vehicles in Triq Edgar Bernard. As she got closer, she saw a man with a mobile phone in one hand and a gun in the other. She had pulled out her mobile phone to record the incident, "in order to help one of the guys for insurance purposes". The footage was unclear because her dog was straining at the leash. One man got into a car and drove off and the man with the gun started shooting at it and then chased after the first car. Another vehicle stopped and the driver asked her what had hap- pened. She told him and said she had a video. He wanted to see it but she hid the phone and he fled the scene shortly after. "GM14 is a government vehicle and it's not every day that people shoot in Malta, this isn't America " Supt Mamo asked her whether the other person involved in the accident was holding anything in his hands and the witness replied in the negative. Farrugia Sammut sketched the scene of the incident in court. Morrison Smith was leaning with both hands on the top of the vehicle. The accused was on his mobile and shouting, pointing his weapon at the floor. "The other man got inside his vehi- cle and took off. When he drove off, the other gentleman literally just took a step and shot twice. One-two. "The gentleman, who had just dis- charged his gun, got into his car, GM14, and followed him." The magistrate asked her to con- firm that she remembered the GM14 number plate. She did, but could not confirm the other vehicle's registra- tion number. From where she was standing, she could see two shots being fired to- wards the car but could not tell which part of the car it was aimed at. "I just know it was straight at the vehicle." She described the shots as in rapid succession – what is known as a "dou- ble-tap". Asked by the magistrate, she said that the person who asked her for the footage "had light eyes and stubble". He was a passenger in the car, not the driver. "When the GM14 took off, I had already seen lights of police cars going up the hill before the third vehi- cle arrived". Asked by Giglio, she said she had thought the vehicle had slowed down because the driver had been hit and was relieved when he sped off again. The court heard that Msida resident Claudia Nicastro had heard shout- ing and went out on her balcony to see what was happening. She said that she saw two men arguing outside their cars. At one point she heard one man say "what are you doing with that weapon, put it away" and the other man calling someone on his mobile phone, shouting that he was near the (national) pool complex. Inspector Saviour Baldacchino testi- fied that Supt Mamo had called him and his team on the scene "near the skatepark, road direction towards the south." When he arrived, he said, one car was already on the police towtruck. He described it as the car used by the minister. The other car was hit by two rounds, one in the bumper and one in the upper portion of the rear windscreen. They could not find the spent cartridges, he said, adding that his team looked in both areas that Sheehan had indicated to be where the shots were fired. Inspector Baldacchino told the court that the recordings of the phone call indicate that the weapon was al- ready cocked at the time, as there was no sound of the pistol being loaded or made ready. This was not the accepted police procedure, he added. The Police constable who took the 112 emergency call, Eman Ghigo, testified that the minister's car was "smashed" and the other vehicle had driven off. The person on the other end claimed that the minister was with him at the time. He heard two shots, and the person said that he had shot the car "because you didn't send anybody". Requesting bail for Sheehan, lawyer Edward Gatt pointed out that the me- dia had already done all the leaking and contamination of evidence that could have been done. The prosecu- tion did not object to the request. The court felt that there was practically no risk of contamination of evidence as the civilian witnesses had all testified at the sitting, however a decision on bail was not given. Magistrate Bugeja is expected to give a decree on bail in camera. The shooting incident gave rise to opposition allegations of a cover-up and Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia and Acting Police Commis- sioner Ray Zammit have both been replaced. Sheehan allegedly shot at a car be- ing driven by Scotsman Stephen Mor- rison Smith in Edgar Bonnici Street last November, after Smith failed to stop after having hit the minister's vehicle. Initally, the media were told that "warning shots" were fired "into the air" but it later transpired that the vehicle had two bullet holes. Over the weekend, the National- ist publication In-Nazzjon released damning recordings of telephone conversations between Sheehan and the police control room. Then Min- ister Mallia was present at the Police HQ at the time. The results of an inquiry carried out by former judges Albert J Magri, JD Camilleri and Philip Sciberras, published yesterday, concluded that there was no political cover-up but a cover-up attempt by individuals close to Sheehan. The inquiry concluded that most of the responsibility for the misinforma- tion was to be laid at the door of then Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit, who was found to have been grossly negligent. It all but absolved Mallia of respon- sibility in the shooting and added that there was no evidence that he was involved in the attempted cover-up. It did, however, find him responsible for not correcting the initial, incor- rect statement that his ministry had issued. The compilation of evidence will continue on Friday, with several po- lice witnesses expected to testify. Edward Gatt represented Sheehan. Suprerintendent Alexandra Mamo and Inspectors Saviour Baldacchino and Jesmond Micallef prosecuted. Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Smith. The end of the chase at the Sta Venera tunnels