Second life-term for ‘ruthless, cold blooded murderer’

Additional reporting by Miriam Dalli.

An emotionless Salvatore 'Kalanc' Mangion has been handed his second life-term to spend in prison, after a judge this afternoon branded him as a "ruthless, cold-blooded murderer."

In a judgment handed down this afternoon by Judge Lawrence Quintano, Salvatore 'Kalanc' Mangion, 47 of Zejtun, was sentenced to his second life term in prison, for the murder of his third victim, Maria Stella Magrin, 68 of Cospicua, in 1986.

Standing motionless in the dock, Mangion heard Mr. Justice Quintano describe him as a "ruthless, cold-blooded" murderer, who showed absolutely no remorse for his actions.

"You have no morals or values, the murder you committed was cruel, and you killed a poor, defenceless woman, even though she gave you money," Mr. Justice Quintano told Mangion.

"The blood stains on the wall, the marks left on the woman's body from the knife's handle, not to mention the clustering of the injuries, show premeditation, especially when one sees that you left no fingerprints on the scene of the crime," the Judge added.

Mangion was found guilty of his third murder last Thursday evening, after jurors returned a unanimous verdict, convicting him of murdering 68 year-old Maria Stella Magrin in Cospicua in 1986.

He has already been jailed for life for killing 54-year-old Rożina Zammit on February 8, 1984, in Safi  when he stabbed her some 40 times. Mangion is also serving a 21-year jail term for the murder of his neighbour Frenċ Cassar, 74, and the attempted murder of the victim's sister, Ġuża Cassar, on August 18, 1998.

Soon after the verdict was read out on Thursday night, after jurors deliberated for five hours at the end of a four day trial, Prosecutor Nadine Sant urged Judge Lawrence Quintano for a life sentence.

She claimed the verdict was "very rare" adding that the Magrin's murder was committed two years after his first, when he killed Rożina Zammit.

Sant suggested that Mangion might be responsible for a fourth muder, however she stopped short of giving further details.

In a previous judgment, Judge Joseph Galea Debono described Mangion as a serial killer, where jurors had found him guilty by eight votes to one of murdering Rożina Zammit.

"He has tarnished our nation's reputation," she claimed, adding that he was even featured on a swww.murderpedia.com a pecialised website in which serial killers are listed.