[WATCH] Deniro Magri identified as Sylvester Farrugia’s alleged killer

Deniro Magri escorted to the law courts for his arraignment

Deniro Magri, 27 of Marsa, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 25-year-old Sylvester Farrugia, who was shot dead in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Farrugia, a hospital worker, was known to the police in connection with drug investigations. Magri, whose father owns the New Tiger Bar in Marsa, was arrested this morning. 

Sylvester Farrugia was gunned down at around 5am in Triq Simpson, Marsa. Footage of the crime scene showed the man lying in a pool of blood outside a car with two smashed windows, indicating that the shots were fired at the car.

According to reports, Farrugia may have been sitting in the backseat when he was shot at, and it took some four hours before his lifeless body was found.

Investigators believe that Farrugia may not have been killed on the spot where he was found, after it emerged that the victim, together with two other individuals, had tried to set fire to Magri’s home.

The Magri residence, where the accused lives with his wife and seven-year-old son, is just three blocks away from where Farrugia’s body was found.

An inspection outside Magri’s house showed that petrol had been thrown at the façade, the court was told.

According to Magri’s defence team, the accused noticed what was happening outside his home and had opened fire on the attackers. This would have taken place at around 1am. Farrugia’s body was found at around 5am.

“The accused was peacefully at home, at around 1am, and someone tried to set his house on fire,” De Marco said.

The inspector confirmed that the gunshots were fired in the street where Magri’s lives.

“As a fact, it resulted that a shot had been fired very close to the accused's home. Whether inside or outside is a hypothesis,” Arnaud said.

The inspector confirmed that, in all, three people are thought to have tried to burn the house down. The police has not yet ascertained what role the victim played in the attempted arson attack and the identity of the person who drove the body three blocks away has not yet been established.

“They didn't take him to hospital? They simply dumped him there?”  asked De Marco.

The court was told that the police are also investigating the attack on the residence.

Arnaud confirmed that the car used in the arson attack had been stolen but stopped short of divulging any details into the investigations into other persons.

The prosecution objected to the defence's bail request, saying that the situation surrounding the attack was complex and that it was too early to speak of granting bail.

“People are being questioned and the police don't want to cause a war out there.”

Arnaud said it wasn't the first time that Magri had been threatened, but the police were trying to establish what the motive was.

De Marco argued that the investigations were not into the accused, but into who had threatened him and previously tried to burn his house's front door. She insisted that the accused was acting in self-defence, to protect his life and that of his wife and child. The deceased and his accomplices had gone to great lengths to avoid capture, so much so that they stole a car, she pressed.

The lawyer insisted that Magri didn’t know who his enemies were, while his family remained home “unprotected”. Magri’s wife and father had assisted the police in their investigation, said the prosecution. The court ordered that they be given 24-hour police protection.

“The accused is terrified that he will be taken to prison where he doesn’t know who is friend or foe,” added De Marco. 

Magri, who is believed to have been receiving anonymous telephone calls and death threats before the shooting, sobbed quietly in the dock as the lawyers then approached the bench to continue discussing the case, after which the court ordered that Magri be held at the forensic unit, under police protection.

Lawyers Giannella de Marco, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Marion Camilleri appeared for Magri. Lawyer Jason Azzopardi was parte civile. The prosecution is being led by inspector Keith Arnaud.

In 2013, Magri and his father were acquitted of injuring an Eritrean asylum seeker when they fired 15 shots from two handguns. The duo had insisted at the time that it was self-defence.