A dissatisfied customer was given a suspended sentence after he hurled a games console at a shop owner.

Kenneth Caruana, 36, of Tarxien, was charged with causing serious injuries to John Felice, owner of Felix Electronics, on 23 December 2002.

The accused had bought three Playstation 2 games consoles from Mr Felice’s shop in September 2002.

On 23 December, of the same year, Mr Felice said the accused had called him claiming that a game he had bought was not working on one of the consoles.

He said that Caruana went to the shop and he, Mr Felice, succeeded in getting the game to work. The victim told police that later that day the customer called once again saying the game was still not working.

“He came into the shop at around 7pm and began arguing with me,” Mr Felice continued. He said Caruana then grabbed the games console and hit him over the head, leaving him with a four centimetre long gash on his head.

When he was questioned, the accused claimed he had grabbed the games console and wanted to throw it out of the shop but he had hit Mr Felice as he was raising his arms. He said the shop owner had insulted him when he called to complain for the second time.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Abigail Lofaro, noted that the prosecution had provided sufficient evidence for Caruana to be found guilty. She noted that the case was serious and had severe consequences since Mr Felice was seriously injured.

Caruana was given an 18-month jail term suspended for three years.

He will also have to pay a Lm100 fine if he approaches or bothers Mr Felice within the next year.

Inspector Jesmond Borg prosecuted.