A 69-year-old Maltese man from Birkirkara today wasn handed down a one-year prison sentence after he caused serious injury to another man by stabbing him no fewer than four times in Paceville.

In its judgment, the courts chastised the accused for carrying out such crimes at the age of 59 against a 22-year-old youngster, stressing that at his age, he should have known better.

The incident took place on 26 February 2006 at around 4.45am. The accused, Grezzju Gauci, had involved himself in a brawl and seriously injured the victim, Gilbert Spiteri, who had been trying to help his friend.

The accused was charged with attempted homicide, causing grievous injury, theft while carrying a pointed weapon, carrying the pointed weapon without a valid licence and relapsing. The Attorney General, following the compilation of evidence, felt the accused must principally answer for causing grievous injury rather than attempted homicide.

It was established that a man named Edmond Zerafa had decided to leave a club in Paceville slightly earlier than his friends due to the heavily inebriated state he found himself in. Mr Zerafa walked towards Pender Gardens and wound up resting on one of the numerous bus stops found on the street in question. This is when, for reasons which remain unclear, a fight broke out.

At this stage, difference versions of events emerged. Mr Zerafa says that a taxi driver or possibly a bus driver approached him to ask if he needed transport. Mr Zerafa admitted that due to the state he was in he could have spoken badly towards the person. He said that pepper spray was then sprayed in his direction and that after the brawl, the aggressors had stolen his jacket, mobile phone and wallet with money inside.

It was also alleged that Mr Zerafa had actually been lying down on the bus stop, which is why the drivers had approached him, to tell him to sit down properly. He did not take kindly to this, and began to fight with a driver known as il-kampjun. According to this version of events, some 20 drivers then managed to separate the two men.

The victim, Mr Spiteri, had left the club with his girlfriend a short time after Mr Zerafa, and is said to have come across the tail end of the brawl while walking towards their respective transport home.

The court heard how Mr Spiteri saw his friend on the ground being beaten, and promptly went to intervene. At this point, the accused along with five other men had confronted the victim and told him not to involve himself in the fight, causing the accused and the victim to begin fighting between them.

The victim is said to have pushed the accused to the ground, and turned to help his friend. This is when the accused turned to Mr Spiteri and began stabbing him with a pointed weapon.

A doctor certified the victim as suffering grievous injury due to the fact that one of the stab wounds, to the chest, had cut through the many layers of skin and resulted in the victim’s muscle popping out. The victim also complained of “mild sensory impairment” to the right hand, leading to the charge of causing grievous injury. The doctor who saw the victim commented that the classification of grievous injury was also used due to the complaint of sensory impairment, with the courts commenting that grievous injury has been allowed because the chest area is known to be a vulnerable one.

In view of this, Magistrate Ian Farrugia, presiding over the case, found the accused guilty of all charges (the first one limited to causing grievous injury and not attempted homicide), and slapped the accused with a one year prison term.

Inspector Chris Pullicino prosecuted.