A 33-year-old man from Zabbar ended up with 12 stitches in his face and a bruised leg when he tried to stop a Finish man who was trying to break into his car in St Julian's. The Finn smashed a wine bottle over the Maltese man's head and beat him up on the street.

The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, when Christopher Vassallo, 33, returned to his parked vehicle in Ball Street, St Julian's. He noticed the Finnish man, Tatu Antero Oksanen, attempting to force open the doors of his car.  Vassallo approached him, and shouted for him to stop whatever he was doing. Oksanen shouted that the vehicle was his, pushed the 33-year-old against the vehicle, and then smashed a wine bottle over his head.

Vassallo begged his assailant to stop, telling him was a father and had a child at home, but Oksanen continued to beat him, until Vassallo managed to escape. Bleeding, he ran over to Paceville, informing a police officer of what happened. Meanwhile, he started to lose consciousness, but managed to file a police report.  An ambulance was then summoned to take Vassallo to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment, where he was certified to be suffering from grievous injuries.

Photos passed on to The Malta Independent show bruises suffered by Vassallo, as well as damage to his vehicle. It is estimated that €1,300 is needed to fix damages.

Police managed to track down Oksanen. He was arrested and yesterday appeared in court to answer charges of causing grievous injuries, attempting to break into a vehicle and trying to escape from the police. Oksanen pleaded not guilty to all charges pressed against him, and requested bail. However, the prosecution objected, stating that the police do not have his passport since the accused claimed he has no passport and entered Malta using his driving license, "apart from the fact that he attacked and grievously injured an innocent man".

The prosecution said that if the accused is released, there's no guarantee he would not try to leave the country. The defence argued that his client has a clean criminal record. The court denied Mr Oksanen's request for bail and he was remanded in custody.

Vassallo entered the court room in a wheelchair, with gauze on his face covering his stitched wound, while the accused showed up with a black eye.

Police Inspector Elton Taliana said the accused was chased by the police after Vassallo informed them of what had happened. The accused suffered a black eye because he fell on his face while trying to escape.

Vassallo was assisted by lawyers Michael and Noella Schriha while Benjamin Valencia appeared for the accused.