Man lands two-year suspended sentence for shooting friend

Horace Fenech, 37 of Siggiewi was handed a two-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of slightly injuring his former friend during an argument in which he fired a shotgun.

Fenech was at first charged with the attempted murder of Nicholas Catania, however the charge was later reduced to that of grievously injuring the victim.

The accused was also charged of being in possession and using an unlicensed firearm and wielding an edged weapon against Catania.

The court noted that the incident stemmed from a disagreement between the two men, whose friendship deteriorated so much, that the accused wanted Catania to leave the farmhouse where they had been living together for four months.

Fenech argued that his friend kept bad company, was involved in illegal hunting and had illegal bird callers which he did not want on his property.

Furthermore Fenech accused Catania of having stolen a European Golden Plover (pluviera) from him. 

The accused said the argument escalated and he picked an axe to frighten Catania away, but then threw the weapon out of a window.

At the same time, Catania insisted that he managed to disarm Fenech and it was he who threw the axe out. However, the axe was never found by investigators.

As Catania was leaving the farmhouse, he made towards the bird cages but Fenech allegedly shot towards the cages. Two more shots were fired, with the last hitting Catania in his back, shoulders and neck. 

Magistrate Edwina Grima noted that Catania was hit by lead shot and not by a bullet aimed directly at him.

"Since none of the previous shots were aimed at the victim, the court believed that the accused had no intent to kill or grievously injure the victim, but simply wanted to frighten him off".

However, Fenech assaulted Catania twice in a short span of time and injured him.

The court found Fenech guilty of slightly injuring Catania, assaulting the victim and being in possession and using an unlicensed firearm. Magistrate Grima handed the accused a six month jail term suspended for two years. fenech was also ordered to pay €946 in court expenses.

Inspector Roderick Agius prosecuted, while lawyer Roberto Montalto appeared for the accused.