Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/904009
maltatoday SUNDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2017 News No bail for man who injured police officer A Tunisian man has been remanded in custody after he pushed a police of- ficer down a staircase, injuring him. Abdell Raouf Mohfoudi Ali Hassan, 34, was arrested two days ago after al- legedly chasing a woman home and banging on her front door. The rela- tionship of the accused with the wom- an is not known. The police were called and they spoke to the man as he stood in the stairway outside the woman's flat. At one point Hassan is alleged to have pushed an officer down the stairs, in- juring three officers in the ensuing struggle. Inspector Roderick Spiteri arraigned the man before magistrate Aaron Bugeja on Friday evening, accusing the Tunisian of attacking the woman, in- sulting and threatening her, violently resisting police, insulting and threat- ening five police officers, attacking and slightly injuring three of them, failing to obey legitimate police or- ders, refusing to give his particulars and damaging State property - in this case a police officer's uniform. He was also accused of breaching the peace and using obscene and blasphemous language in public. The last of the man's 17 charges dealt with alleged breaches of bail condi- tions, conditional discharges and re- cidivism. Lawyer Noel Bianco, defence coun- sel to the accused, entered a plea of not guilty. The court ordered that the man be remanded in custody and held at the forensic ward of Mount Carmel Hospital. YANNICK PACE THE main suspect in the killing of Angelo Mangion, 58 from Qormi, who was gunned down last night in an upholstery shop in At- tard, has been taken to Mater Dei Hospital by the police suffering from drug dependency symptoms, MaltaToday has learned. The man was one of four men arrested by the police last night following the drive-by shoot- ing in Mdina Road, in which the shop owner, 61-year-old Raymond Grima suffered griev- ous injuries after also being shot three times. Mangion was shot four times inside the shop - Raymond Upholstery Sofas, before the shooter made a getaway on a motorbike head- ing in the direction of Rabat. MaltaToday is also informed that police in- vestigators found no bullet casings on the site, despite reports of 10 bullets having being fired into the garage. This would mean that the shooter would have taken precautions to prepare a casing or rudimentary bag to catch the casings auto- matically once they were ejected each time the firearm was fired. It is still unclear what type of firearm was used and what calibre the bullets fired were. Early reports in some sections of the media saying that a revolver had been used were dis- missed once it became known that 10 shots had been fired and that the shooter did not stop to reload his weapon while firing. Sources have said that the police as yet have no conclusive evidence to arraign anyone. The owner of the shop - Raymond Uphol- stery Sofas - is Raymond Grima, 61, from Ik- lin, who did not employ any workers in his shop, except for his son, who MaltaToday is informed left the shop at around 5pm. Grima was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital to be oper- ated upon in an attempt to save his life. Before being operated on, police officers managed to speak with Grima, who informed them that he did not know who the murdered person was. Grima was said to have told the police that the man walked into his shop shortly before a motorbike stopped outside. The driver was reported to have walked in and fired shots from what appeared to be an auto- matic weapon. According to witnesses, the motorbike drove off in the direction of Rabat where an exten- sive search involving some 20 Rapid Interven- tion Unit vehicles, as well as an Armed Forces helicopter was underway. Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, as well as assistant commissioner Ian Abdilla, Superintendent Anthony Cassar, and deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta went on site. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja is leading the in- quiry. The police appealed to the public for infor- mation, which may be passed on in confidence on number 119. Attard murder suspect taken to Mater Dei under police escort Qormi man Angelo Mangion, 58, was shot dead on Friday evening. Photo by James Bianchi