'Il-pinzell' jailed for 12 years for Qormi shootout with police

Marco Pace known as Il-pinzell, was jailed for 12 years this morning after  admitted to charges of attempted murder in a six-hour shootout in Qormi in 2005. He was arrested by the members of the  Special Assignment Group on February 15, 2005 after the shootout, in which he held out against the police using a shotgun and a machine gun. Another man, Mario Vella, was also involved. He was jailed for seven years last year. Mr Pace was out on bail. In 2011 he was arrested for drink-driving and threatening a woman and a police officer. A few days previously, he was caught driving in Xemxija without a licence and. In 2009 he was charged with trying to run over a woman. He pleaded guilty to the Qormi shootoout today instead of undergoing trial after a plea bargain agreement. “I want to die like Scarface,” Pace had told his terrified girlfriend at the time.  In court, Yanika Abdilla had recounted an extraordinary story of how drugs, sex, violence and shooting were a typical day for her and Mr Pace.  Ms Abdilla described herself as more like a slave than a girlfriend to him and he had forbidden her from leaving the place. She was essentially a maid who would get paid in cocaine. Such was...