The President of the Egyptian community in Malta has been handed a 6 month suspended prison sentence for his part in a fight in which another man was seriously injured.
Wael Mohamed Rabie Mohamed Abdel Ghani was condemned to 6 months in prison, suspended for 3 years after he was convicted of grievously injuring Ayman Elkatatni on 20 February 2017 during an argument over the presidency of the Maltese Egyptian community in which both men were committee members.
Magistrate Joe Mifsud found Abdel Ghani guilty of inflicting grievous injury, excusable due to provocation. He was also found guilty of breaching the peace. Charges of possession of a knuckle duster were not proven, however.
Police Inspector Trevor Micallef had told the court that Elkatatni had filed a report in which he claimed Abdel Ghani had attacked him with a set of brass knuckles as he walked away from an argument which had been broken up by onlookers.
Abdel Ghani had released a statement after consulting with his lawyer, Charlo Gouder. In it, he claimed that the victim had attacked him and that he had filed reports about this in the past. The Inspector said that the police had obtained CCTV footage of the incident but that it was not clear enough to make out what happened.
Elkatatni claimed to have been sitting down at a bar when the accused arrived, still carrying his work bag, and leapt on him, fists flying.
At the scene, Abdel Ghani had told the police that Elkatatni had been selling drugs, but a search of the man turned up nothing.
After the police left, the men had spoken civilly to each other but as Elkatatni was about to leave, the accused had punched him in the forehead, causing a gash. He exhibited a photograph of this injury, taken at hospital an hour after the incident.
On the day of the incident, the accused had gone to a bar known as tax-Xixa. Elkatatni had shaken hands with another man when the accused approached. Thinking that he was about to shake his hand too, Abdel Ghani had instead rained blows upon him.
Elkatatni denied throwing a glass at the accused and claimed to have no knowledge of how the accused had ended up bleeding from facial wounds.
The accused, Abdel Ghani, had testified, telling the magistrate that he had been defending himself. He explained how he had gone to the tax-Xixa bar in Paceville on the day of the incident. When he had spotted Elkatatni, he had gone to tell him and his brother to stop besmirching his name. The conversation became heated and at a point Elkatatni had attacked him and thrown a glass at his face, causing a nosebleed, he said.
He denied having a knuckleduster and said that although he was angry at Elkatatni, he had not been aggressive towards him, he claimed.
Lawyer Jason Grima appeared parte civile for Elkatatni.