Jockey charged with ex-girlfriend's murder granted bail

A horse jockey charged with the murder of his former girlfriend was granted bail on his ninth request, on a deposit of €15,000 and personal guarantee of €25,000.

Kenneth Gafà was granted bail in the courtroom of Magistrate Anthony Vella.

Gafà, 39, of Marsa, stands charged with the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend outside Żebbiegħ, limits of Mgarr, back in 2010. He has been under preventative arrest since December 2010.

Christine Sammut, a mother of one daughter, was shot in the neck and chest while in the driver's seat of a van. Two spent shotgun cartridges were found on the ground.

While in custody at Corradino prisons, Gafà had claimed he knew who had murdered Raymond Caruana, who was killed in a spray of bullets outside the Gudja Nationalist party club in 1986.

The interrogation proved that despite Gafà saying he knew who killed Raymond Caruana, he likely knew nothing and was likely just trying to waste time, a senior police source had told MaltaToday.

The interrogation however led to the police establishing that the declaration made by Gafà was likely a bluff intended to gain prison privileges.

Gafà was aged 11 at the time of Raymond Caruana's killing in 1986. Caruana, a PN activist, was murdered at the Gudja PN club on 5 December 1986, at the age of 26. While at the PN club, a car drove past the club, firing several shots. One bullet fatally hit Caruana in the throat, killing him.

A trumped-up charge was later pressed against PN activist (today Safi mayor) Peter Paul Busuttil, where police found the murder weapon inside his farmhouse. The evidence was found to have been planted there in a police frame-up.