A fight between two Italian men in a Fgura bar ended with one of the men suffering serious eye injuries and the other missing his flight home.

Fulvio Ripoli, 29, from Rome, was arrested following a brawl with a fellow Italian which broke out at a bar in Fgura.  While Ripoli escaped with slight injuries, the other man, Emanuele Costa, suffered injuries to his eye which were deemed grievous.

Inspector Spiridione Zammit charged Ripoli with involuntary grievous bodily harm, assault and threatening the victim as well as breaching the peace. As a result of the incident, Ripoli missed the flight back home.

Lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar, appearing for Ripoli as legal aid, asked the prosecution to retrieve CCTV footage from the bar and ensure that all evidence was being preserved. The defendant would also be filing a criminal complaint against the injured man, announced the defence, as the police had not taken steps against him.

The prosecution objected to bail due to the fact that there were witnesses still to testify fear that the accused would abscond.

The defendant is presumed innocent said Mifsud Cutajar. “The fears of the prosecution must be a higher fear. He was due to return to Italy today and missed his flight, so that fear is now baseless. He is in Malta looking for work, not to escape. Even if he does, Italy will return him. There is nowhere in the law that states that the presumption of innocent takes a back seat because of witnesses,” argued the man’s lawyer, adding that the man had a clean criminal record.

“Today is the first time that he has stepped into a courtroom,” said the lawyer.

Mifsud Cutajar’s argument found favour with presiding magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit who granted the accused temporary release from custody against a deposit of €500 and a €5,000 third party guarantee. The sitting was temporarily suspended while the arrested man sought confirmation from the third party willing to step in as his guarantor.