Man who shot victim in the head from close range with a crossbow leaving him 'millimetres' from death is jailed for 18 years

Maricel Melinte, 47, has today been jailed for 18 years for attempted murder after he was found guilty at Winchester Crown following a trial late last year.

The incident happened at Melinte’s home address on Sunday, September 26 2021. Just before 3pm, the victim – a man in his 30s and known to Melinte – was sat in the garden when Melinte shot him at close range with the weapon.

A struggle ensued in which Melinte tried to attack his victim with a hammer, but the man fought him off and ran back into the house, locking his attacker outside. He stumbled into the nearby main road where he collapsed.

Moments later, police were called by members of the public and arrested Melinte in the back garden of the home in Fuschia Gardens, Southampton, as well as seizing the crossbow and a broken bolt shaft.

Both men were taken to hospital. CT scans showed that the crossbow bolt was lodged in the victim’s skull and had gone into his brain, so doctors placed him into an induced coma for two weeks.

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At this stage, he was not expected to survive, but neurosurgeons at Southampton General Hospital carried out a complicated and lengthy operation to remove the bolt. Despite the odds, the surgery was a success.

After he regained consciousness, the victim told officers he had unwittingly filmed the whole incident on his camera, which he put on top of Melinte’s shed to film a time-lapse video that afternoon. This had been recovered as part of the forensic search of the garden.

The victim still has problems controlling his left eye, but is on the road to recovery.

DI Howard Broadribb from Western Investigations, who led the case, said: ‘The fact that this man survived such an ordeal is quite simply a miracle; the bolt was millimetres away from killing him. I can only be thankful that it stopped where it did so he was able to give us his account of what happened that afternoon.

‘Although thankfully he is still with us, his life has been changed forever in the space of a few seconds due to Melinte’s incomprehensible actions. I would like to commend his bravery throughout the court process.

‘We may never know why Melinte decided to commit this awful act, but thanks to the hard work of the investigators and the footage obtained from the camera, he will be spending a long time behind bars for this terrifying attack.’