‘I found him face up with two bullet wounds’ - witness in Birkirkara lawyer murder case

Augustine Grixti found Carmel Chircop face up on the floor with two bullet wounds back in 2015, he testified in court yesterday.

Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo was presiding over the compilation of evidence against brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, known as ‘tal-Maksar’, and their associates Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio yesterday morning. Chircop was found dead with bullet wounds in a Birkirkara garage complex in 2015. They are charged in connection with the murder.

Grixti said he had gone to the Rampol building garage complex. He heard four shots; he said his garage is next door to Carmel Chircop’s.

Grixti said he saw the door of Chircop’s garage open. He would see him there every day, he said, but this time he noticed a person’s feet on the ground protruding from the doorway.

“I called out to him, and he didn’t reply, so I went up to him. I found him face up with two bullet wounds... his right hand was still moving,” Grixti said. He then called 112. Chircop was shot in his upper and lower left torso, Grixti added.

Two policewomen from the Birkirkara police station were first on the scene. They accompanied him to the garage and confirmed that Chircop was dead. Then the Rapid Intervention Unit arrived, he testified. Several prosecution witnesses appeared yesterday.

It also emerged that Ryan Schembri, the owner of More Supermarkets, who is believed to have absconded and changed his identity to escape his creditors, owed murdered lawyer Carmel Chircop €750,000, the court was told yesterday.

Property broker Peter Barthet told the court that he had introduced his client, Chircop, to the owners of a large warehouse in Qormi. Chircop had taken on the promise of sale together with Adrian Agius and Ryan Schembri, who had said that they needed the warehouse to supply More Supermarkets.

Asked by Superintendent Keith Arnaud about the viewing of the warehouse, Barthet said, “at first I thought it was for him [Agius], but later it became clear that Ryan Schembri called the shots, you understand?”

EROM – More Supermarket’s holding company – owed Chircop between €700,000 and €800,000 according to a constitution of debt entered into by the company, Barthet said. The debt was guaranteed by the personal assets of Adrian Agius and Ryan Schembri, but before absconding, Schembri had emptied his accounts. Not even the €250,000 deposit was recoverable, Barthet explained.

Chircop had been prepared to sue the deal’s guarantors for his money and had even asked Barthet if he knew a debt collector, he said.

Despite the pressures, Notary Malcolm Mangion testified that Agius and Chircop were very cordial and jovial when the constitution of debt was signed, secured by a hypothec over Agius’ property.

Other witnesses yesterday included RIU officers and first responders at the scene of the murder.