42-year prison sentence handed to Qormi valley murderer Elliot Paul Busuttil

Elliot Paul Busuttil has been jailed for 42 years for the brutal murder of 62-year-old Mario Farrugia in 2022 and the attempted murder of another man, whom he had attacked with a meat cleaver in 2020.

He had reversed his initial plea and admitted guilt last month. During that sitting, the court had been told that the parties had reached a plea deal where Busuttil would plead guilty in return for a 35-year sentence.

Human remains, which were later identified as being Farrugia’s, were discovered in the boot of his Peugeot 407 which had been found, abandoned, in a Qormi valley in April 2022, a month after he was reported missing. Farrugia had been stabbed more than 40 times.

Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, presiding the Criminal Court, disagreed with the punishment that the parties had agreed upon. The defendant had admitted to committing the barbarous murder of Mario Farrugia and later hid his body, said the judge. Busuttil’s was “cold blooded and ready to do anything for the sum of just €100,” noted Scerri Herrera. “A life is worth more than that.”

She handed down a 42-year prison sentence and ordered the confiscation of his bail security, amounting to €14,000 in total. He was also ordered not to molest or contact the man who had survived the meat cleaver attack for one year.

Busuttil was also ordered to pay €70,786 in costs, which would be translated into further prison time if not paid.

The Court upheld a submission made by the surviving victim’s lawyer, noting that the time had come for lawyers representing the victims of crimes to have a greater role in the sentencing and plea bargaining process. The judge ordered that a copy of the pronouncement be delivered to the justice minister.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Shaun Zammit represented Busuttil.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri assisted the family of murder victim Mario Farrugia as parte civile. Likewise lawyer Jason Azzopardi assisted Emil Marinov, whom Busuttil had nearly killed with a meat cleaver in a similar attack, which had left him permanently disabled.