Statements released by a man set to face trial by jury over the 1988 murder of Baron Francis Sant Cassia cannot be used as evidence against him, a criminal court has declared. Carmel Camilleri, 66, a father of five was arraigned in 2006 and accused of shooting Sant Cassia just outside his Mgarr residence on October 27, 1988. That murder had gone unresolved for a number of years until police, working on a separate case in 2004, had zeroed in on Camilleri as the suspect hitman. Investigators claimed that Camilleri had been commissioned to carry out the murder. He allegedly approached the baron’s residence, Castello Zammittello, crouching behind a rubble wall and waited for the victim to emerge. The minute Sant Cassia stepped outside his home, he was shot in the head and killed on the spot. Eight years later, Camilleri on arraignment pleaded not guilty to wilful homicide, illegal possession of a firearm and firing the weapon in an inhabited area. Prior to his arraignment, Camilleri had given two statements to the police. At the time, Maltese law did not grant suspects the right to legal assistance before and during police interrogation and Camilleri had released his statements...
