Matthew Joseph Schembri has been charged with masterminding an attack by two hitmen on the 62-year-old father of his ex-wife as he went for a morning jog along the Sliema promenade. 

According to a report by TVM, Schembri has been accused of commissioning two Albanian men, Xhovano Ndoci and Agostin Marku, to attack Louis Spiteri.

Spiteri shared details of the incident online, which saw one of the men punch him in the face and throw him to the ground. Thankfully, passersby heard Spiteri’s cries for help and intervened, apprehending one of the men, Ndoci, who was found with a knife.

Ndoci and Marku both lived in a property provided to them by Schembri with their lawyer, Dean Hili, describing the men as “slaves”.

“They ended up essentially as Schembri’s slaves in hopes they would find their next meal, which they ended up having to find elsewhere. We have to see who truly had to gain from this situation, whether it was these two men who attacked someone they didn’t even know – they had a picture of him – or someone else,” Hili said according to a report by The Times of Malta.

Schembri’s lawyer David Gatt disagreed, insisting that the men attacked Spiteri of their own accord. Still, inspectors said that Schembri was the brains behind the attack.

All three men have pleaded not guilty. The court denied bail for all three.

What do you think of the case?