"As I was driving in December 13 road in Marsa, a car came up alongside mine and stayed there. I realised it was Natasha Bugeja, who started insulting me and told me that, like she had burned down my front door, she would now burn me. My front door was set on fire on 23 December last year."

This was said by Siggiewi resident Donna Pace as she testified against 19 year-old Natasha Bugeja from Vittoriosa, who stands accused of the attempted murder of seven pedestrians whom she tried to run over in January. 

In all, the 19 year-old is charged with seven counts of attempted murder and other charges of causing slight injury to four people, damaging six cars, carrying a knife in public without a licence and breaching the peace. She was also accused of harassing two persons in December and misuse of electronic communications equipment. 

The case has its roots in a brawl in Hamrun on 7 January, near the spot where, on 2 April last year the girl's brother Brandon Pace was stabbed to death. 

Pace testified in detail about the day's events, recalling that the argument was the result of weeks of provocation by the accused. 

She added that after the Marsa incident, Bugeja had followed her in her car, throwing bottles at it. Pace had driven as fast as she could to avoid the bottles because she had young children with her in the car she said. She had filed a police report after the incident, to the same Sergeant who was already investigating the burning of Pace's front door.

The woman continued, saying that on the day of the incident, she had been at a restaurant with her boyfriend Carlos when he received a phonecall from the accused, inviting him to have a drink with her. Carlos had passed the phone to Pace who, after a prickly exchange, said that "she was right to be upset" because after two years with Bugeja he had returned to Pace.

Asked to explain this point, Pace said that she had a six-year relationship with Carlos, who is the father of her child, before he left her and embarked on a two-year relationship with Bugeja. After that romance broke down, he went back to Pace.

During the phonecall Bugeja had challenged Pace to a fight, she said. After hanging up, she had called her brother's girlfriend, also challenging her to a fight near the White Stars bar in Hamrun.

A chance encounter with Bugeja near a bakery in Hamrun led to a scuffle. "Kurt Grech, who had killed my brother, emerged from a van and told me 'nobody touches Natasha.'" She crossed the road to get back into her car and leave. At that moment, she said, she saw Natasha Bugeja driving in their direction, hitting them, a few seconds later crashing into the side of her car.

Asked by defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi whether they were holding any hard objects that might have injured Bugeja, Pace said this was not the case.

The lawyer referred to a photo of Pace, posted to Facebook one hour before the incident, captioned "my father taught me that it is important to win the battle, but more important to win the war."

When Pace denied this, Azzopardi explained that the caption had been changed since the incident, but that he had a copy of the photo as originally captioned. Donna's sisters also testified yesterday, confirming Pace's version of events. 

Defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Franco Debono requested bail, explaining that the accused had to care for her cancer-stricken mother. Inspector Magro did not object to bail as there were no further witnesses to testify, but said her release must be subject to strict conditions.

Magistrate Anthony Vella observed that it didn't make sense to keep all of them in custody, as a continuation of the family feud could continue through other members of the two families.

The court upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €9,000, also imposing a protection order in favour of the Pace family, as well as ordering the woman to sign a bail book three times a week and observe a curfew.