Jury finds man guilty of attempted murder, sentencing to take place Thursday

A 68-year-old man was deemed guilty of attempted murder by a jury on Monday evening

Paul Borg, of Ħaż-Żebbuġ, was convicted by a jury of attempting to kill Mario Grech in 2020, and of causing him grievous bodily harm in an earlier incident which took place a year before.

The jury reached an 8-1 vote on the charge of attempted murder and returned a guilty verdict on every charge other than that of causing wilful damage to third-party property.

Sentencing will take place on Thursday following submissions by lawyers on the appropriate punishment to be handed down.

During proceedings, the Court heard how, four years ago, the accused spotted Grech working on a property belonging to Grech’s son, and subsequently threw two brick tiles towards his direction.

It was confirmed by expert testimony that the force of the impact would have killed Mario Grech had he not swiftly avoided the bricks.

In the year preceding the incident, the accused had also assaulted Grech with a broomstick.

The trial is presided over by MadamJustice Consuelo Scerri Herrera.

AG lawyers Darlene Grime and Ramon Bonett Sladden are prosecuting.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo are defence counsel. 

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri appeared for the victim's family.