Appeals court reconfirmed bail for Pace, despite Attorney General’s plea

‘Tyson Butcher’ Jonathan Pace, accused of the attempted murder of Vince Muscat ‘il-Kohhu’ had his bail reconfirmed by an Appeals Court despite the prosecution’s objections

Judge Michael Mallia Photo: Ray Attard
Judge Michael Mallia Photo: Ray Attard

The Appeals Court had reconfirmed bail for Jonathan Pace, the man accused of the attempted murder of Vince Muscat ‘il-Kohhu’, murdered on Thursday evening after being shot at while on a balcony in a Fgura residence.

Unconfirmed reports claim Pace could have been shot at from a car that stopped beneath the balcony on Mahatma Gandhi street, in Fgura. He was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital where he later succumbed to injuries from shots to his back and head.

Just days after he had been granted bail on 8 August, against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €4,000, the Attorney General had requested that the court revoke Pace’s bail.

In the appeal, the Attorney General claimed bail should be revoked due to the serious nature of the offence, and due to the fear of tampering of evidence.

The Appeals Court however did not uphold the AG’s appeal, MaltaToday has learnt.

Instead, the court, presided by Judge Michael Mallia, increased his deposit and personal guarantee by €2,000 and €1,000 respectively. The court also ordered Pace to sign his bail sheet between 2pm and 5pm.

In its submissions on bail, Pace’s defence lawyers Giannella de Marco and Joe Giglio had told the court that their client deserved bail because the main witnesses had been heard, and insisted that bail should be withheld because the accused had a clean criminal record.

Bail was however heavily opposed by the prosecution, who claimed that the accused may relapse and cause unrest in society.

Pace was accused by Vince Muscat of having shot at him on the evening of 8 April in Triq Bordin, Msida. Muscat – one of the men allegedly involved in the heist on the HSBC headquarters in 2010 – was shot at while still in his car.

Muscat had been out on bail despite facing charges of having fired over 30 shots at the police during the attempted HSBC heist.

Muscat then drove himself to the Msida police station before being rushed to Mater Dei Hospital.

He later claimed in court that he had identified his shooter as being Jonathan Pace:

”Someone got out of the passenger’s side and started shooting. He was holding a large pistol in his right hand, and as soon as he got out of the car he rolled back his hood, and wore his mask with his left hand. At this point, I recognised the shooter as being Jonathan Pace,” he said.

He claimed that only two days before the attempted murder, he and Pace had been at home drinking coffee and chatting together.