A man accused of carrying out two murder-bid shootings in Glasgow in a month walked free yesterday after both victims said they couldn’t identify him as the attacker.
Michael Fratti, 25, denied shooting Robert McCann at a house in Cuthelton Terrace, Glasgow, on September 18 last year and Brian McGloin at his home in the city’s Wellshot Road on October 13 last year.
He was acquitted yesterday amid dramatic scenes at the High Court in Glasgow.
Prosecutor Liam Ewing said: “Having taken time to consider matters and the evidence that has been led so far, I’m taking the decision to withdraw the libel against the accused.”
Judge Lady Rae told Fratti: “It is for the Crown to decide whether to continue with a prosecution. I acquit you.”
In evidence, McCann, 38, said he was shot in the head in his friend Christopher Lynch’s home but remembered nothing after hearing someone at the front door and walking out of the kitchen into the hallway.
He woke up days later in hospital. In court, he said he could not identify the gunman.
McGloin, 43, who was shot three times and slashed on the face, also said in court he was unable to identify the shooter.
He was asked about a police statement in which he named Fratti and said that was one of the many rumours that were rife in the area at the time.
Witnesses to both incidents also could not identify the gunman.
The trial was told by McGloin that two masked men – one armed with a gun and the other with a knife – entered a house he was in.
He told Ewing they were looking for his friend James “Jasper” McCann.
McGloin told the court: “I said he’s not here.”
Ewing asked: “Was anything else said?” and the witness replied: “I can’t remember.
“They spoke among themselves and one of them, the man with the knife, looked into other rooms.”
Asked what happened next, McGloin said: “I heard a bang and felt a hot sensation in my chest and left shoulder area. I was also hit on my left leg and slashed on the face once by the knifeman.
“I remember sitting on the couch covered in blood then I lost consciousness. I woke up a few days later in hospital.”
The court heard he could lose his left arm.
The jury was told that, while in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, McGloin gave a statement to police claiming Fratti was the gunman.
In court, he said he could not remember giving the statement.
