Four men – Godwin Vella, 41, David Calleja, 39, Anthony Joseph Portelli, a 31-year-old soldier and Keith Caruana, 26, all from St Paul’s Bay, were standing trial accused of a number of crimes, including seriously injuring Alfred Cardona during a fight in Bugibba three years ago. The fight broke out over an Opel Tigra, belonging to Portelli, that was left parked in the middle of the road.

Caruana alone was being charged with the attempted murder of Emanuel Farrugia, while Portelli was allegedly his accomplice. These two men were also accused of injuring Mr Farrugia slightly.

In addition to these charges, Caruana was accused of resisting arrest while Calleja allegedly refused to obey police orders.

All four were cleared of seriously injuring Mr Cardona, but Calleja was found guilty of slightly injuring him by six votes to three. By the same number of votes, Portelli was declared to have been part of a fight in which Mr Cardona was seriously injured. This suggests that the jurors were convinced that Mr Cardona had been seriously injured the day of the incident, but could not apportion the blame on any of the four men accused of the crime.

Caruana was cleared of trying to kill Mr Farrugia, but was found guilty, by six votes to three, of injuring him slightly using a pointed instrument. Portelli was found not guilty of being Caruana’s accomplice in the alleged attempted murder by seven votes to two.

Six jurors, however, declared Portelli guilty of slightly injuring Mr Farrugia. Calleja, on the other hand, was unanimously found not guilty of the same crime. The jury found Caruana guilty of resisting arrest, by seven votes to two, but cleared Calleja of disobeying police orders. Since Calleja had been found guilty of seriously injuring another person in 1992, he was unanimously found guilty of relapsing.

After listening to the submissions regarding punishment, presiding judge Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono deferred the case for judgement.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said led the prosecution, while Dr Martin Fenech appeared for Mr Vella and Calleja. Dr Edward Gatt defended Portelli and Dr Anglu Farrugia appeared for Caruana.