Five men charged with beating Liam Debono changed their guilty plea to not guilty after initially declaring themselves guilty of the attack. The attack took place last Friday in Luqa.

Liam Debono, 17, is accused with attempting to murder police officer Simon Schembri by running him over. He is out on bail.

But Friday's beating has nothing to do with the police officer; it is more likely that it involves some kind of revenge over a girl, this newspaper had previously been told.

The five are aged between 15 and 25-years-old.

An ambulance had been called after one of the accused fell unwell, and was taken out of the court room. He was placed on the floor for several minutes. All five, including the one who fell unwell, were back in the courtroom after 30 minutes.

Parte civile lawyer Franco Debono told the court that Liam Debono was forgiving the accused, however wanted proceedings to continue against them with the forgiveness reflected in the sentencing.  

The accused, however, withdrew their previous guilty plea which was submitted prior to the sitting being suspended due to one of the accused falling ill, changing it to not guilty.

The five were granted bail. They were also ordered to sign the bail book daily and had a curfew imposed from 6pm to 5.30am. The accused were then released on bail against a €100 deposit, and personal guarantee of €2,000 each.

A protection order was issued. The court warned that if they approached Liam Debono, they could be fined up to €7,000 and have a jail term of up to two years imposed.

Sarah Zerafa and Paul Camilleri prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared parte civile.