Iklin shooting: man pleads not guilty to attempted murder
A 24-year-old accused of shooting a man in Iklin is pleading not guilty to attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, saying he shot him because he feared for his safety and that CCTV footage of the incident "will tell the truth”.
Ryan Sultana, a gardener from Iklin, stands accused of shooting 55-year-old Vincent Xuereb on Thursday. He is also facing other charges related to misuse of a firearm, causing violence and breaching the public peace.
Xuereb was found wounded in the shoulder and bleeding on Triq il-Wied at around 3.30pm, a few metres down the road from two wrecked vehicles that had been involved in a collision.
Xuereb will also be investigated, prosecuting lawyer George Camilleri told the court.
The two men are understood to have clashed in the past, with sources telling Times of Malta earlier on Friday that Sultana believed that Xuereb had defrauded him.
Shot using hunting shotgun
Camilleri, who was representing the office of the attorney general, told the court that the victim had been hit by a shotgun pellet and that police officers had quickly located the suspect, who lived nearby.
Sultana is alleged to have told interrogators that he shot Xuereb using a...