A third shot in the tunnel
On 26 November I reported on information I had from a highly reliable source that there was a third shot in the tunnel on the night of 19th November, which shut down the electrics and the engine of Smith’s car, and that’s why he stopped. You can read the post again via the link below.
Though this post was heavily shared, it wasn’t picked up by the press and the matter of why on earth Smith would have stopped driving while in the tunnel, and let Sheehan and his gun get him, was left unaddressed.
In his recorded telephone calls made via the police control room, Sheehan says that Smith stopped in the tunnel because “ghafastu mal-hajt…waqaf ghax kien jaf li kelli dik” (the gun).
But in his testimony during the compilation of evidence in court the day before yesterday, Smith said (I quote Times of Malta):
“A this point my car just malfunctioned and stopped. All the power went off I have no explanation for it. It’s a modern car and this never happened before,” he said.
Now it has been explained to me, though this is subject to correction, that the Vauxhall Insignia has a fuse box just beyond the left-hand tail-light. In that fuse box, fuse no. 21 is for the engine ignition.
Video footage and photographs taken by the press who arrived just as Smith’s car was being taken away that night show that the left-hand tail-light was pierced by a bullet. If this passed through the tail-light and into the fuse box, destroying fuse no. 21, it would have killed the engine and stopped the car dead.
And that would suggest that the bullet-hole in the tail-light was created in the tunnel and not in Triq Wied il-Kappara. This would make it the third shot about which the Police Commissioner Ray Zammit was heard quibbling with Sheehan on the telephone. Independent witnesses in Triq Wied il-Kappara heard just two shots.
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http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/11/exclusivethere-was-a-third-bullet-fired-in-the-tunnel-which-shut-down-the-engine/
Acting Commissioner Zammit: “Kemm tajtu tiri, tnejn jew tlieta?”
Paul Sheehan: “Tnejn…ghandu jkun”
That was a rehearsed conversation, don’t you think?
That was when Zammit ostensibly called Sheehan to check the sequence of events to help Kurt Farrugia write a press release when he should have been investigating Sheehan.
“Ghandu jkun” indicates uncertainty and is a ploy by Sheehan. He can bring it up if it’s discovered that there were more than two shots. “Ma kontx cert” sort of thing.
‘Ghandu jkun’ is more often than not a subtle admission that one is lying.
Aren’t you missing the more important point?
At that stage, any conversation between Zammit and Sheehan should have been as commissioner and subordinate in the context of a criminal investigation, not a chat between buddies to help the government’s communications chief.
The Acting Commissioner should never have engaged in any dialogue whatsoever with Sheehan.
Daphne you should have headed the investigation team instead of those three stooges who it seems did not want to annoy those who appointed them
Clearly, Sheehan aimed to hit or kill Smith.
Now we still don’t know the reason for Sheehan’s outrageous anger.
How long can these two can hide the truth? What was their relationship? The journalists have to do the investigative work here since the police are corrupt and untrustworthy.
So is the cover up continuing?
Basta ghamilna l-inkjesta.
Wasn’t this a crucial point?
One that proves how the car stopped and that the shots were in fact aimed at the car?
Now why would there have been an effort to conceal this third shot?
Was the train of thought so thorough that not Joseph Muscat, nor Mallia, nor Ray Zammit, nor Kurt, nor Ariadne Massa, nor Manwel Mallia nor Silvio Scerri asked how the car came to a stop?
Or because they thought that not acknowledging it, they could get away with it?
“Let’s not forget Kasco.”
I would have thought that in a criminal case the evidence would be inspected and a report drawn up by a court appointed expert.
[Daphne – That is exactly what is happening. And that is why the police superintendent was so cross to find that Smith’s car was being removed as she arrived and the duty magistrate hadn’t yet got there.]
I would have expected this expert to have found the third bullet or the damage caused by it. I would also expect the ballistics expert to match the bullets with the weapon as well as one of the experts to say in which direction the bullets were likely to have come.
Is this not done? Are conclusions of how the crime occurred reached in some other way rather than following the evidence? By asking the perpetrator perhaps?
We don’t know yet whether there was a connection between Smith and Sheehan before the shooting accident.
However in order to shoot the front of the car the shooter would have had to overtake or at least come neck to neck with Smith no?
[Daphne – A tail light is exactly what it says it is: TAIL light. The lights at the front of the car are the HEAD lights. You see, this is exactly why I bore on about how important it is to understand that English words have precise meanings and that those words should be used precisely. Maltese words do not have precise meanings; they are sort of ‘all purpose’ words. This does not translate into English, which is completely different. In Maltese: ‘dwal tal-karozza’. In English: head light or tail light.]
Which brings us to the other shot, is it the windscreen or the rear window?
[Daphne – That’s right, the rear window. Quick of you to point that out.]
The rear windscreen to be exact.
The rear windows are the ones on each side of the rear passenger seat.
It could be a third shot from another gun.
Sheehan said he, and not the RIU, stopped him – in one of his later phone calls. He sounded rather adamant about that.
It is clear he’s not alone however, in the second phone call, when he tells someone to hold him down,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NajBDTKfDy8
He then RECEIVES the third phone call as the RIU arrive, sirens blaring over his voice and he’s heard directing them where to stop.
Whoever dragged Smith out of the car may have still been there as Sheehan’s heard telling someone ‘ghidilhom jieqfu hemm’ at the very end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErURZxeCgDQ
And how does Sheehan confuse Tal-Qroqq with Santa Venera? It took the RIU a good five minutes to locate him.
Enough time to do what had to be done.
Otherwise, someone has to explain explain how Sheehan manages to shoot from inside the car and hit the front of the Insignia, closing in from the right, that would be his passenger’s side.
The Insignia is on the inner lane, the Mercedes parked some meters in front and at an angle indicating he was on the outer lane. This from the very first photo on Times of Malta.
The moment I wrote this, it just occurred there may have been someone sitting in that passenger seat.
You would be surprised how many people refer to those tunnels as the St. Venera tunnels.
OK, but in his second call he first says Regional Road then Santa Venera, correcting himself.
Especially those going to Tal- Qroqq.
Is it true that Paul Sheehan is a drug dealer/trafficker?
There are many rumours going around about that. The plot thickens.
Where is the car now? Is it still impounded at the police garage? How long had he been using the car with UK number plates?
Fuse No.21 in the tail-light cluster could be the fuse to the main fuel delivery pump, once that fuse is breached there is no fuel pressure delivered to the engine.
Good point.
To quote Daphne above, “In that fuse box, fuse no. 21 is for the engine ignition”
I think her source of information must have been quite clear in specifying that, don’t you? Also, Smith said that the car “lost power”, which I’d assume to mean electrical power, or more specifically, ignition.
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Vauxhall/Europe/united_kingdom/nscwebsite/uk/00_Home/Owner_Services/owners_manuals/Insignia/InsigniaOwnersManual_Jan09.pdf
It’s the link to the owner’s manual, page 171 shows the rear fuse box holding fuse no.21, as per table in page 172, ignition. (which circuit primes the fuel pump anyway)
Sheehan claims to have had 17 bullets, and that after the shooting he had 15 bullets left.
If he was saying the truth, then was there someone else shooting a gun that night?
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/12/09/fil-qorti-xhieda-tas-supt-sandra-mamo/
Yep.
Someone at some point mentioned that there could well have been ‘one in the chamber’, meaning a starting total of 18 bullets; 17 in the clip, and one in the chamber.
I know NOTHING about guns mind you.
Somewhere in the recordings Sheehan clearly says that he shot a third shot in the tunnel.
What baffles is this.
a) How did the inquiry report say there were 17 bullets left in the gun which carries 19? The Report speaks of two bullets shot. Clearly someone added the third bullet or perhaps more.
b) The tail lights are clearly on when the car is driven (driven not pushed) onto the low-lifter.
Something is still not quite right and too many people seem intent in a cover-up of sorts.
Why all this trouble for a broken mirror or is there more to the story, much more.
At one point there were three bullet holes circled, then it was two shots, I thought the one on rear bumper could have been a parking sensor mistaken for a bullet hole.
Come to think of it, those are usually placed in a set of four minimum around the back bumper, that means two on each side.
One has to account for the third shot that came from the grassy knoll located just before the tunnel.
The babushka ladies with their mobile phone somewhere out there.
Which means the chase was designed to go a certain route and the quick arrivals on the scene were in position.
Me and the wife held our own independent inquiry and decided that they are all scumbags.
8.45 two shots and then the chase as per 112 call
9.01 more Sheehan 112 calls with more admissions of aimed shots
9.12 Mallia speaking on phone to his driver who is in the tunnel
The Vauxhall Insignia is now on the low loader.
Mallia’s other driver Paul Vella turns up in tunnel and sees the bullet holes.
Sheehan on further 112 calls starts to modify his aim of shot and both the PM’s spokesman and Acting Police Commissioner Zammit are amazingly happy to forget the clarity of the original 112 calls.
Manuel Mallia’s sidekick Silvio Scerri calls Malta Today to “correct” its initial true report.
11.08 Mallia asks Sheehan where his four-year-old daughter is, using a call through the control room rather than a mobile to mobile call which would be the obvious thing to do here, though it should have been done at once. So you have to ask how many calls Mallia made to Sheehan’s mobile before this, while he says he’s stayed on dining at Police HQ.
11.15 Kurt fires off the false press release having already copied its draft to the whole mob, including PM, at 10.47.
11.30 Paul Vella l-Machine Gun drives Mallia home from Police HQ and tells them that he saw the bullet holes.
Mallia contacts the PM.
11.45 Ramona Attard (Manuel Mallia’s spokeswoman) and Kurt Farrugia (Pm’s spokesman) become very nervous seeing it all coming apart in the media that same night, and want to call it quits, but Mallia and PM in a panic tell them to sleep on it.
Next morning, Mallia starts a slow retreat from the press release after a flurry of meetings and calls with Kurt Farrugia and police.
The PM needs a firewall, so he calls an inquiry that will find him a fall guy.
Leaks of the 112 calls means Mallia is the only fall guy to get it in the neck.
And the only person who is “very comfortable in his position” to orchestrate those leaks is….?
Why were the bullets picked up and never seen again?
The shooter admitted shooting. The car has two holes which were made by bullets. So the bullets, in themselves, had nothing incriminating which needed removing – unless the shooter was not using a service revolver with different grade bullets, which possibly belonged to him.
Hence the third unexplained bullet. Have the bullet holes been examined to check for grade? I am under the impression that this option of an unlicensed revolver, was mentioned in this blog.
[Daphne – The spent cartridges were picked up because the original plan was to conceal the bullet holes in the car.]
It was very intelligent of Simon Busuttil not taking part in the farcical inquest.
Nothing has been said about whether the gun was a police-issue weapon.
This is speculative information.
This is a photo of a car similar to Smith’s.
http://img2.netcarshow.com/Vauxhall-Insignia_2009_800x600_wallpaper_2f.jpg
This is another:
https://static.fw1.biz/Templates/268625/myimages/vauxhall-insignia-3.jpg
Now play this video and pause at 1:24.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP5q61j27VA#t=84
Both cars have the same distinct feature which is a bulb. As you can see in the picture I posted this feature is on the left and not on the right which makes the car asymmetrical which is why it stands out.
It is not a bullet hole; and it is the reverse light of the Vauxhall that is mistaken for a bullet hole. From first appearance the diameter (calibre) does not appear to be the same of the other hits.
1) Either all Vauxhalls have a reverse bulb and the location of the 3rd bullet hit is still missing. – Likely
2) Either all Vauxhalls have been hit with a bullet on their respective tail lights. – Unlikely
3) The 3rd bullet by Sheehan happened to be precisely directed and by chance through the reverse bulb of the Vauxhall – Highly unlikely but still possible.
Neither is the one on the bumper, that’s the two hook cover, showing clearly in the your first pic, Smith’s Insignia doesn’t have parking sensors and wouldn’t be mounted that low anyway.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/46375/ministers_driver_involved_in_argument_shots_fired#.VInTDdLF9mM
That’s another bullet missing, the only one left just above the rear screen. Sheehan shot at the driver.
Daphne, I can confirm that the Insignia “Model Year 2009.5” does indeed have a fuse box (1 of a total of 3) on the left side of the load compartment behind a cover, and that the ignition circuit is served by fuse number 21. See Pages 171, 172 of the downloadable user manual:
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Vauxhall/Europe/united_kingdom/nscwebsite/uk/00_Home/Owner_Services/owners_manuals/Insignia/InsigniaOwnersManual_Jan09.pdf
In the case of the Insignia “Model Year 2014.5”, the ignition fuse is at a different location altogether, namely number 22 in the instrument panel fuse box, at the front of the passenger compartment.
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Vauxhall/Europe/united_kingdom/nscwebsite/uk/Home/pdf/Owners_Services/owners_manuals/VX%20Insignia%20OM_KTA-2675-12_MY14.5_Jan%202014.pdf
This means that the explanation holds true if the date of manufacture of Smith’s car is earlier than 2014.
Wow. Now that’s investigative blogging.
It is the earlier model, the Insignia’s been restyled for 2014.
http://freakwheel.com/new-vauxhall-insignia-2014/all-new-vauxhall-insignia-2014/
Cluster much different.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/46375/ministers_driver_involved_in_argument_shots_fired#.VInTDdLF9mM
The registration plate starts with FE10 and they are UK plates.
F is the region identifier (Nottingham & Lincoln) and E one of the DVLA Office identifiers for Nottingham.
10 is the year identifier.
So that vehicle was registered by a car dealer in Nottingham between March and September 2010.
For the vehicle to registered in 2010, it would have been a 2009 model.
It is no wonder that the crime scene was so promptly vitiated and why there was such a diligent search for bullets and empty cartridge cases before the investigating magistrate could arrive on the scene!
It shouldn’t be long now before the Labour Party faithful start gloating that the tampering with the evidence at this crime scene was so thorough and so expertly done that Sheehan’s trial during this Labour administration did not succeed to prove anything beyond reasonable doubt.
Therefore Sheehan was another policeman who had not done anything wrong. With a little bit of luck it might even be possible to create the “perception” that the attempted murder was the dastardly work of an ignoble “Sheehan look-alike Nationalist” impersonating the driver/bodyguard of ex-Minister Mallia and his four-year-old daughter.
And the judicial inquiry by the three worthy ex-judges had got it all wrong. So, there!
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/Vauxhall/Europe/united_kingdom/nscwebsite/uk/Home/pdf/Owners_Services/owners_manuals/VX%20Insignia%20OM_KTA-2675-12_MY14.5_Jan%202014.pdf
Page 241 for the rear fusebox . The box really sits behind the left tail light.
Fuse 21 might cause problems if blown, but even a short circuit in the box can have a similar behaviour.
I cannot understand how they can appear on TV and instead of calling a spade a spade they go down memory lane and blame others who in the past did not do certain things right.
If something was wrong in the past, it was wrong and two wrongs will never make it right.
Because of certain things, maybe some people thought it better to vote for change. And what a change it has turned out to be.
It seems that a shot becomes a warning shot simply because the target has been missed.
If the bullet hit a wire and dented it with the body work, it would have also blown a fuse.
In other words, it is more likely that an overload caused by a short circuit blew the fuse or tore the ignition wire. You don’t need to hit the fuse box to blow a fuse.
Apart from that, some cars have anti-burglar systems which block the car engine.
One can also starve/pierce/kink the fuel line and eventually stop the engine also.
There are many ways to skin a cat.
In one of the conversations I distinctly heard Sheehan ask to have the car opened as there were bullets still inside. Did anyone else hear him?
Another thing that has mystified me is this: if Minister Mallia was at the Police Headquarters when Sheehan made the first 112 call and told them that the minister was with him, why did they not say “b’min trid titmejjel siehbi, il-ministru hawn qieghed jiekol mal-kummissarju”.
Everybody would have been aware that he was there because that is the way things are in this country. When the bigshot walks in the telephone rings in all departments to be on his best behaviour.
So much for preserving the scene.
In the photo (link given below) there is clearly a blue package in the trunk of the minster’s car next to the white box. Both of these items are on the left hand side of the trunk, on the side where the bullet hole is.
In your photo, I cannot see the blue package and the white package has moved to the right side of the car’s trunk.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/46880/police_officers_in_lineup_over_sheehan_shootings_footage#.VIw8bivF98E