The fallout from the Liam Debono Xarabank interview debacle continued to rain down this morning, after Debono's lawyer told a court that PC Simon Schembri, who was left disabled by the incident had "stepped in front of" the airing of the interview "just like he stepped in front of the car."

Magistrate Joe Mifsud heard more witnesses this morning as the case against Debono, who is accused of the attempted murder of the policeman, continued. After hearing some medical and police witnesses take the stand, defence lawyer Franco Debono informed magistrate Joe Mifsud that he wished to make a submission.

Debono made a request for the recalling of Simon Schembri to the witness stand. He submitted that he would be asking him about his application filed on Friday, effectively gagging Xarabank from airing the interview. "This was his reply," Debono said. "If it comes to a jury, this will be the first thing I will ask the jurors to see. I thank you for presenting this application. I want him to confirm the contents under oath. Why am I doing this? Because whilst in this courtroom a reference had been repeatedly made to Liam Debono's character, painting him as a monster. Now we have an opportunity to take an X-ray of Simon Schembri's character. As a witness told us, Schembri stood in front of the car and likewise he stepped in front of the accused on Friday."

"I want Simon Schembri to explain to me how he's been going on TV for six months, fronting national protests and whatnot... but what is he saying?  'I can talk, but the moment you try to speak I will shut you up!' That is Simon Schembri!" said the lawyer, voice rising.

"Schembri had agreed to go on Xarabank and preparations had been made. There was nothing in bad taste, because Simon Schembri can! This is a person who accepted to be interviewed, but the moment he found out that Liam Debono was going to be interviewed he stepped in the path."

"Do doesn't this apply to you? So when you accepted to be interviewed it wasn't an exercise in publicity and in bad taste?" he said denouncing what he called "the hypocrisy of it all."

The court remarked that in court, the accused had a right to be silent all throughout the proceedings. "Can we have a situation where the accused is silent in court and goes to the media giving his opinion?" asked the magistrate.

Debono argued that all this amounted to prejudicial pretrial publicity "You have footage of the incident on the internet running around, isn't this going to affect the jury?

The court upheld the request in the absence of opposition from the prosecution and parte civile. The case continues tomorrow at 10:30am.

Court to investigate Illum article

Debono also exhibited an article written by lawyer Joe Ellis which was published in the newspaper Illum yesterday. The article made Liam Debono out to be guilty without a chance of acquittal. "I appeal for prudence," Debono said. "We have a presumption of innocence. He [Ellis] is a lawyer and should know better."

The court, after reading the article, ordered that a communication be sent to the AG, and Ellis to reply to the complaint raised by the defence within 24 hours. The court reserved the right to decree after the replies are received. It made it clear that because in the article, the author was contesting a decision taken by the court, it will refer the case to the Commission for the Administration of Justice "to investigate and decide if necessary."