Compilation of evidence begins in Sheehan case

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja today began hearing the compilation of evidence against Police Constable Paul Sheehan, the personal driver of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia who is accused of shooting at an unarmed vehicle after a traffic incident.

Superintendent Sandra Mamo was the first to take the witness stand, telling the court how, on the 19 November at around 21:10hrs, she was informed by Commissioner Ray Zammit that someone had collided with the minister’s car and that the driver had fired shots. She immediately informed AC Martin Sammut and the person who hit the car was arrested and taken to the police station.

As there was a policeman, the minister and a shooting involved, an inquiry had to be held, she said.

Superintendent Mamo testified taht Stephen Morrison Smith was taken to the police station by RIU. She had informed PS Sandra Mangion that nothing was to be moved as an inquiry was to take place. Mangion informed her that the car, on order of the police commissioner, was to be towed to CID yard, but she asked her to keep it there for inquiry. She then called Commissioner Zammit, who confirmed that nothing was to move before the inquiring magistrate arrived.

On instructions of the Commissioner, Mamo then called Saviour Zammit of CID to attend the scene. However, when she arrived at the scene, Mamo saw Morrison Smith’s vehicle already on the low-loader. “What have you done?” she said. Assistent commisioner Sandro Zarha was already there as he had arrived approximately 10pm.

She said she was told that a hit-and-run had taken place, where Morrison Smiths’ car hit the minister's one and subsequently shots were fired in the direction of the car in the vicinity of the national pool.

Sheehan was taken to the scene to walk them through the incident. Duty Magistrate Natasha Sciberras appointed several experts, who arrived on the scene shortly after.

Mamo said the minister’s car had a scrape along the side and a broken mirror. Morrison Smith’s car was also had a scrape and a broken mirror on the passenger side. She noted a hole in the rear right mudguard and another in the rear windscreen. The weapon was in the trunk of minister’s car and she posted an officer on guard until ballistics experts were on scene.

Sheehan had told her that he was at his mother's house, in Vjal Cottoner, when he heard an impact and saw the collision. The car drove off and he followed it to Kappara. Sheehan said he “did not know exactly in which road he had fired the shots”.

The police started looking for spent cartridges. Sheehan told police that he was issued a Glock pistol with 17 rounds. Ballistics experts found 15 left in the magazine.

Morrison Smith was taken to the St. Julian’s police station for a breathalyzer test as they suspected that he was under the influence. He refused the test and he was taken back to Sliema Police Station. The inquiring magistrate wanted Morrison Smith and Sheehan to be taken to the Msida police station. Morrison Smith was once again asked to take a breathalyzer test, and on this occasion he accepted. The test registered a reading of 109mg.

Morrison Smith was asked to nominate a lawyer and he asked for Manuel Mallia. It was explained to him that Mallia could not represent him as he was a cabinet minister, however he could not this in his inebriated state.

On his part, Sheehan asked to be represented by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, who arrived shortly after.

The magistrate then requested the policeman on duty at the control room explain exactly what happened during Sheehan’s 112 call.

She told the court how, on 20 November, Morrison Smith was spoken to, and once again refused legal assistance. He had stated that he was drinking at Black Gold and left around 20:30hrs. He stopped to buy water at Triq Wied il-Kappara, but miscalculated and struck a “dark-coloured vehicle”.

He told the police that he had heard a commotion and saw a man in civilian clothes with a firearm in his right hand and a mobile phone in his left. He told the man to put the gun away and fled the scene. As he drove off, he heard shots fired at him. The car followed him on to the bypass. In the tunnels, his car stopped suddenly and he was “relieved when he heard police sirens”. Much to his surprise, Morrison Smith was arrested.

Sheehan was cautioned and asked for lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, realeasing a statement in the presence of his lawyer and several police officers.

Mamo told the court that in that statement, Sheehan claimed that he was at his mother’s home after working till 8pm. He heard a noise and when he had gone out to look, a certain Daniel Grech pointed out that someone had either hit the minister’s car or Grech’s car. Sheehan picked up his firearm and keys from his mother’s house and gave chase.

The chase led though Sliema Road and Nazju Ellul Street. Sheehan told her he had forced the other car to stopand that Morrison Smith had a bottle in his hand. Sheehan announced that he was an armed policeman, but Morrison Smith drove off. Sheehan claimed he shot at the tyres. He called 112 and asked for assistance from the RIU. Asked why he shot at the vehicle, he said that Morrison Smith was a danger to himself and others.

The car was finally stopped at the Regional Road tunnels. Civilians helped Sheehan apprehend the drunk driver.

Lawyer Joe Giglio asked her about the number plates on the car that Sheehan was driving. It was leased and had two numberplates, GM14, for official duties. "It was not using the official plates at the time", said Inspector Mamo.

The only difference between the two testimonies was where the initial hit and run took place, with Sheehan saying it occurred outside his mother's house and Morrison Smith saying at Kappara Road.

The victim, Glaswegian Stephen Morrison Smith, took to the witness stand, testifying in English, for which the accused required a translator.

Morrison Smith said he is a director of two companies which manufacture speakers. On the night of the incident, he said, he was at the Black Gold pub in Sliema, and had left at around 20:30hrs. He stopped at a confectionary to buy water on the way and drove through Rue D’Argens.

He told the court that he couldn't find a parking space so he decided to go to another confectionary near his house. He clipped the wing mirror and side of a parked car and stopped to exchange details and to arrange the repair of the car.

“At that point I heard loud shouting in a very aggressive manner as I was getting out of the car. I could see a man running towards me shouting in a fit of rage. He was holding a gun. At this point, I genuinely feared for my life and decided to leave the scene.” Questioned by Giglio, he said the man was wearing a white shirt and dark trousers. He did not identify himself as a police officer.

Such was the shock he was under, said the witness, that he could not remember whether he had replied or said anything.

He drove off to the end of the street, “just before I started turning I heard the first shot”, adding that it was a quiet street in a residential area. The second shot came as he hit the corner. He hadn’t realised that his car had been hit.

He estimated that the man was 50 to 55 feet away . “My intention was to get away from him”. He said a car was following him, which he recognised was the Mercedes that he had clipped the wing mirror of.

He turned on to the regional road roundabout and left towards the Santa Veneral tunnels. Inexplicably, all power went off in the car and it stopped.  He was relieved when he saw the flashing blue lights of the police car. 

He was surprised when the police confronted him and made him lie face down on the ground. “I was shouted at, ‘don’t move, don’t speak , don’t anything’”. He was told to keep his face on the ground and not even to tilt his head sideways.

He was taken to three police stations that evening, electing to take a breathalyser test.

Gzira resident Lydia Farrugia Sammut testified that she was walking her dog with her mother at around 20:30hrs and as they were returning home, they saw two vehicles in Triq Edgar Bernard.

As she got closer, she saw a man with a mobile phone in one hand and a gun in the other. She had pulled out her mobile phone to record the incident, “in order to help one of the guys for insurance purposes”.  The footage was unclear because her dog was straining at the leash.

One man got into a car and drove off and the man with the gun started shooting at it and then chased after the first car. Another vehicle stopped and asked her what happened. She told him and said she had a video. He wanted to see it but she hid the phone and he fled the scene shortly after. “GM14 is a government vehicle and it’s not every day that people shoot each other on the street in Malta, this isn’t America ”

Inspector Mamo asked her whether the other person involved in the accident was holding anything in his hands and the witness replied in the negative. Farrugia Sammut sketched the scene of the incident in court.

Morrison Smith was leaning with both hands on the top of the vehicle. The accused was on his mobile and shouting, pointing his weapon to the floor.

“The other man got inside his vehicle and took off. When he drove off, the other gentleman literally just took a step and shot twice. One-two.

“The gentleman, who just shot, got into his car, GM14, and followed him.”

The magistrate asked her to confirm that she remembered the GM14 number plate. She did, but could not confirm the other vehicle’s number plate.

From where she was standing, she could see two shots being fired towards the car but could not tell at what part of the car it was aimed at “I just know it was straight at the vehicle.” She described the shots as in rapid succession – what is known as a “double-tap”. 

Asked by the magistrate, she said that the person who asked her for the footage “had light eyes and stubble”. He was a passenger in the car, not the driver. “When the GM14 took off, I had already seen lights of police cars going up the hill before the third vehicle arrived”.

Asked by Giglio, she said she had thought the vehicle had slowed down because the driver had been hit and was relieved when he sped off again.

The court heard how Msida resident Claudia Nicastro had heard shouting and went out on her balcony to see what happened. She said that she saw two men arguing outside their cars. At one point she heard one man say “what are you doing with that weapon, put it away” and the other man calling someone on his mobile phone, shouting that he was near the (national) pool complex.

Testifiying onder oath, Inspector Saviour Baldacchino explained that Supt. Mamo had called him and his team on the scene “near the skatepark, road direction towards the south.” When he arrived, he said, one car was already on the police towtruck. He described it as the car used by the minister. The other car was hit by two rounds, one in the bumper and one in the upper portion of the rear windscreen.  They could not find the spent cartridges, he said, adding that his team looked in both areas that Sheehan had indicated to be where the shots were fired.

Inspector Baldacchino told the court that the recordings of the phonecall indicate that the weapon was already cocked at the time, as there was no sound of the pistol being loaded or made ready. This was not the accepted police practice, he added.

The Police constable who took the 112 emergency call, Eman Ghigho, testified that the minister’s car was “smashed” and the other vehicle had driven off. The person on the other end claimed that the minister was with him at the time. He heard two shots, and the person said that he had shot the car “because you didn’t send anybody”.

Requesting bail for Sheehan, lawyer Edward Gatt pointed out that the media had already done all the leaking and contamination of evidence that could have been done. The prosecution did not object to the request. The court felt that there was practically no risk of contamination of evidence as, as the civilian witnesses had all testified in today’s sitting and the police, however did not give a decision on bail. Magistrate Bugeja is expected to give a decree on bail in camera .

The shooting incident has sent shockwaves reverberating around the Maltese Islands, with allegations of a cover-up leading to the dismissal of the Acting Police Commissioner and the replacement of the Home Affairs minister.

The 40-year-old police officer allegedly shot at a car being driven by Englishman Stephen Morrison Smith in Edgar Bonnici Street last November, after Morrison Smith failed to stop after having struck his vehicle. Initally, the media were told that “warning shots” were fired “into the air” but it later transpired that the vehicle had two bullet holes.

Over the weekend, Nationalist publication In-Nazzjon released damning recordings of telephone conversations between Sheehan and the police control room. Mallia was present at the Police HQ at the time.

The results of an inquiry carried out by former judges Albert J Magri, JD Camilleri and Philip Sciberras, published yesterday, concluded that there was no political cover-up but a cover-up attempt by individuals close to Sheehan.

The inquiry concluded that the majority of the responsibility for the misinformation was laid at the door of the (now former) Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit, who was found to have been grossly negligent.

It all but absolved Mallia of responsibility in the shooting and added that there was no evidence that he was involved in the attempted cover-up. It did, however, find him responsible for not correcting the initial, incorrect statement that his ministry had published.

The compilation of evidence will continue on Friday, with several police witnesses expected to testify.

Edward Gatt represented Sheehan. Superintendent Alexandra Mamo and Inspectors Saviour Baldacchino and Jesmond Micallef prosecuted. Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Morrison Smith.