A court yesterday heard how a young woman and a young man walked in on two youths beating up their grandparents while trying to carry out an armed robbery. They both identified the aggressors as the two being accused of the crime.

A young man and a boy are pleading not guilty to trying to rob Grazia and Francesco Camilleri on 26 October at around 9am. Constantino Felice, 19 of Qormi and the 16-year-old boy, also of Qormi, are also being charged with holding the elderly couple against their will and seriously injuring the woman.

They were also charged with verbally threatening the couple as well as being in possession of an unlicensed firearm. The 16-year-old, whose name cannot be published because he is a minor, was additionally accused of driving a car without a licence.

Lee and Stephanie Cortis, the alleged victims’ grandchildren, yesterday took the stand and explained how they walked in on the two accused and saw their grandparents being beaten with firearms.

Mr Cortis explained how he had been asleep on the sofa the day of the incident when he heard his grandfather cry out, “Leave me alone.” “I ran to see what was wrong and saw the younger of the accused beating my grandfather with a shotgun. My grandfather was bleeding as he lay on the floor,” he said.

The witness said he grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer and threatened the 16-year-old who was assaulting his grandfather. In an attempt to stop the attack, Mr Cortis said he also hit the accused with a broom.

In response, the boy turned around and hissed, “If you do not leave me alone, I will shoot you,” Mr Cortis continued. The young man explained that Mr Felice, who was brandishing a revolver, had been beating his grandmother in the meantime.

“When they saw I was not afraid, they stopped,” Mr Cortis said. He explained to the court that he could identify the aggressors as the two accused because they were not hooded while trying to rob his grandparents. They had only been wearing caps.

The witness also added that he knew the two young men by sight and had even posed for a photograph with them at a party around a year before the incident. He said that when the two were leaving his grandparents’ house, Mr Felice told him, “give me the money and we will split it with you.”

Mr Cortis refused and the two climbed into a Volkswagen Golf and fled the scene. He then went to the police station to report the crime.

Stephanie Cortis also said she saw the 16-year-old beating her grandfather with the shotgun. She did not however witness the attack on her grandmother. She said that after Mr Felice stopped hitting her grandfather, he broke into her bedroom and began to rummage through her things.

Mrs Camilleri, one of the alleged victims, also took the stand and said she incurred three injuries in the incident – one on her hand, another on her head and another in her eye.

At the end of the sitting, presiding magistrate Abigail Lofaro ruled sufficient prima facie evidence had been presented for a bill of indictment to be drawn up against the two accused.

Inspector Joseph Mercieca prosecuted while Dr Patrick Valentino appeared for the accused.