HSBC heist suspect questioned over Pace murder

Vince Muscat, 52, known as 'il-Kohhu', has been interrogated by police in connection with the murder of Jonathan Pace, 31 of Zejtun, on Tuesday night.

TVM.com.mt have reported that Muscat was taken in for questioning after Pace, whom he identified as the man who shot him while in his car back in April, was shot at in the back and the head while out on a balcony in a residence on Mahatma Gandhi street, in Fgura, on Thursday evening at 9:15pm.

Pace passed away shortly afterwards at Mater Dei Hospital.

Pace had been accused of shooting Muscat three times in the neck and hand back in April and was out on bail.

As the owner of Tyson Butcher, Pace had been declared bankrupt by a court back in December 2013 after being ordered to pay over €90,000 in debts and for advertising taken out with national television station PBS.

Pace was accused of shooting Muscat 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.

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.

Both Pace and Muscat had been out on bail.