Kalkara murder | Cause of death was severed spine and fractured skull

A Magistrates court heard a forensic expert reconstruct the murder of Joseph Caruana from the wounds reported in the autopsy.

Dr. Mario Scerri testified that he was called to inspect the scene of the crime. The victim, he said, was hit in the back by a shotgun blast from medium distance. The gunshot severed Caruana’s spine and he was beaten in the head with a blunt object as he fell to his knees. The injuries tallied with a beating inflicted by a rifle or shotgun butt.

This view was corroborated by Professors Maria Camilleri Podesta and Ali Safraz, who testified that they carried out the post mortem on Joseph Caruana, aged 61.

They certified that the cause of death was intracranial bleeding from a skull fracture caused by blunt trauma, as well as a gunshot wound to the spine.

A shotgun recovered by the police as evidence was found to have damage to the buttstock that indicates that it may have been used to inflict the injuries.

Experts also described how Maria Simone Cauana was hit in the chest and her baby hit in the arm and hand by the shotgun pellets’ “peripheral cloud”.

Surgeon Kevin Schembri told the court that he had examined Maria Simone Caruana in hospital the gunshot wound she had suffered had penetrated her chest cavity. He said he had decided, after consulting with specialist heart surgeon Alex Manche, not to operate on her and instead keep her under observation. The pellet had lodged itself close to her heart but she was in a stable condition, Schembri told the court.

Gregorio Scicluna is charged with the murder of Joseph Caruana, who was the father-in-law of his former partner, as well as the attempted murder of his former partner and their two children.

The murder occurred on 29 October 2013, when the accused allegedly shot dead Caruana. In previous sittings, the court heard that on the day of the murder, Scicluna and his former partner were involved in a heated argument.

When Maria Simone Caruana tried to escape with her father and her children, the accused is alleged to have opened fire, killing Joseph Caruana and injuring Maria Simone and her children.

The accused is pleading not guilty to the murder, the attempted murders and to being in the illegal possession of a firearm, to shooting in public, and to relapsing.

Lawyer Michael Sciriha appeared as defence counsel. Inspector Keith Arnaud was present for the prosecution.