The original charge brought against the defendant in the bill of indictment, 22-year-old Yugoslav national Illiya Vukadinovic, was that of the wilful homicide of Mr Drago.

However, in Maltese law, a panel of jurors can clear you of the charge brought against you but find you guilty of a crime of a lesser degree.

In his last address to the jurors – in which he sums up the whole case and instructs them on the legal considerations they must make when deliberating their verdict – Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono gave the jurors 13 options of a verdict they could have reached.

After just over five hours deliberating, the jurors returned with a verdict of eight votes to one, announcing the accused guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm followed by death. In their submissions on the punishment, defence lawyer said his client was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. However, the prosecution, led by senior counsel to the Republic Mark Said, rebutted this argument saying that this did not justify the defendant’s actions which led to the death of a man. After the verdict was announced, Mr Justice Galea Debono retired to his chamber to consider the accused’s punishment. He sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment less the two years he spent in preventive custody in connection with the case.