Trial by jury | Man jailed for three years

Judge Lawrence Quintano this morning sentenced Nazzareno Briffa, 49 of Birkirkara, to three years in prison, for causing grievous bodily harm on Peter Borg, known as 'Il-Hassi', also from Birkirkara.

Briffa was acquitted on Saturday of attempted murder after jurors decided he had acted out of "sudden passion" and that he was not in his senses during the assault.

The jury's verdict stated that Briffa's crime was "excusable" due to "sudden passion".

Jurors returned their verdict after almost five hours of deliberation.

Briffa was also found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition and of damaging a billboard.

During the trial, jurors heard how the two men had argued in a bar in Qormi on July 28, 2009. Briffa left the bar, went home to fetch a shotgun and appeared at Borg's farm on the Birkirkara bypass.

Briffa fired two shots at a billboard and then shot Briffa in the face.

Prosecution was led by Maurizio Cardona and Marcelline Bonnet from the Attorney General's Office, while Briffa's defence was led by lawyers Edward Gatt and Chris Cardona.

After sentencing, Nazzareno Briffa was escorted to Corradino Prisons.

Shooting victim and witness Peter Borg had told jurors last week that three years since miraculously surviving an attempt on his life, he still didn't know why Nazzareno Briffa had tried to kill him, maiming him for life.

"I honestly don't know why he wanted to kill me," Borg said as he took the witness stand in the trial by jury of his second-cousin Nazzareno Briffa.

Borg and Briffa were brought up together within the same street in Birkirkara and since their respective mother and father were first cousins, they were in and out of each others' childhood homes.

The two knew each other well, and visited each other and shared drinks at bars or on a family farm on the outskirts of Birkirkara.

The witness explained that on the night he was shot, he had gone to Tony's Bar in Birkirkara to buy a crate of beer and take it to his farm. He found the accused Nazzareno Briffa there with a small dog.

Borg admitted to have criticised the dog for not being a pure breed, and being too small. He also added that he may have passed a remark about the accused, involuntarily offending him. "He shouldn't have felt offended, we are of the same blood," the witness said, adding that he didn't even know that Nazzareno felt offended by what he said.

Borg went on to say that he left the bar before midnight, and went to his farm on the Birkirkara by-pass together with three friends.

Borg explained that while he was drinking beer with his friends on his farm, he heard two loud noises, which later transpired to be shots fired at a publicity billboard that was close to his farm.

He thought it may have been a car crash on the Birkirkara bypass, as it was not the first time he rescued drivers who would have smashed into the boundary walls.

"When I walked up a couple of steps which lead me to the road, I saw Nazzareno with a shotgun in hand, and he called me... as I was about to open my mouth, I heard a bang and immediately felt the heat on my face."

The witness recounted the moments he was in and out of consciousness until he was taken to hospital where he was certified to be critical and in danger of dying.

Borg said that he managed to survive but he almost lost his eye, which needs continuous monitoring and care. "I ask myself, three years after the incident, why Nazzareno who is my own blood, wanted to kill me, and maimed me for life," he said.