The man, 57-year-old Michael Tanti, from Rabat had also been accused of trespassing and throwing dirt on someone else’s property.

Tanti was acquitted of these charges since the slipway he was on is public property and he was throwing the fish innards into the sea and not on anyone’s property.

Raymond Vella claimed that the accused was shouting and yelling while gutting a fish on his property in Xemxija. No witnesses were brought to the stand to argue the fact that Tanti was shouting, but he did this while on a slipway that belongs to the public and not to Raymond Vella and therefore could not be found guilty of trespassing.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, only found Tanti guilty of breaching the peace and fined him Lm10.