An 18-year-old man today insisted in court that he was only acting in self-defence when he stabbed another man in the abdomen in Gharghur yesterday afternoon.

Arraigned in court today, Claudio Galea was charged with injuring the man, being in possession of a sharp and pointed instrument without a police licence and with breaching the peace.

Defence lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo said that their client was at a bar with his girlfriend when someone started slamming an empty bottle of vodka on a table. But when Mr Galea asked the man to stop as there were children around, another man replied that he should mind his own business as he wasn’t from Gharghur and that if he persisted, he would “spill his guts”.

The accused then left the bar, only to be surrounded and assaulted by a group of 20 people, one of which attempted to stab him with a penknife. But he managed to take it from him and started waving it around, hitting another man in the process. He told the police that he didn’t know who he had struck nor could he name his attackers.

Dr Gatt told the court that the elements of self-defence were all present and that the defence and prosecution had agreed on a suspended sentence in return for a guilty plea. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja said however that he would not allow a person accused to plead guilty simply to cut the case short.

The defence changed their plea to not guilty and requested bail. The request was upheld and Mr Galea was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €5,000 and a deposit of €500. He has been prohibited him from entering the Għargħur area.