A consultant neurosurgeon at St Luke’s Hospital yesterday told a court how a man, in his 20s, suffered a 15 per cent disability after he was hit on the head with a wooden baton during a road rage incident more than three years ago.

Antoine Zrinzo was testifying during the trial by jury of Paul Hili, 56, from St Julian’s who is standing trial for the attempted murder of Victor Testa, a 21-year-old student from Sliema. He is also charged with contravening a one-way sign and breaching the peace with shouting and swearing.

According to the bill of indictment, the incident took place at around 8.30pm on 27 February 2003 in St Francis Street in Sliema. Mr Testa was driving up the road and Mr Hili was driving down wrong way. The two argued about whose right of way it was and an argument ensued. The bill claims that Mr Hili got out of the car and started urging Mr Testa to get out of his car and fight. The bill claims that Mr Testa ran to a house nearby and came back with a ceramic pot in his hand, which he collected in order to have something with which to protect himself.

The bill claims that Mr Hili hit Mr Testa on the head with a wooden baton which looks like the foot of a chair.

Mr Zrinzo testified that he examined Mr Testa as soon as he arrived at hospital. He said the patient had a “depressed fracture” on the left side of his skull and the fractured bones were putting pressure on his brain.

He said he performed surgery on Mr Testa’s head soon after but in the meantime he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He said he also had lack of sensitivity in two fingers in his right hand saying this was the cause of post-traumatic epilepsy. He explained that the left side of the brain controls the right hand side of the body and vice versa and this was why an injury to Mr Testa’s left side of the brain affected his right arm. The neurosurgeon said that a CT scan of the man’s brain revealed substantial damage.

Mr Zrinzo said Mr Testa, whom he had followed since the incident, started suffering from short-term memory loss as well as other symptoms as a result of the trauma on his brain. Since then, he said, Mr Testa sat for his examinations and passed them with good marks.

The injuries Mr Testa sustained were very serious but he was never in danger of dying and was only admitted to the Intensive Therapy Unit as a precaution. However, he said, had the injury led to an infection because of what he was hit with, it could have been fatal.

Mr Zrinzo said that several tests he conducted on Mr Testa showed he suffered a 15 per cent permanent disability.

Mr Testa also took the witness stand yesterday. He explained that on the day of the incident, he was driving back home after attending accounts private lessons in Swieqi. He said that as he was driving up St Francis Street, there was a car being driven down wrong way and the driver refused to reverse.

“I told him it was one way and he said: ‘So what?’ He turned off the car and refused. I reversed a few feet until I calculated he could pass but he still refused and insisted that I should reverse all the way down the long road. I could see that he was getting angry and frustrated. He removed his seat belt and got out of the car. I got out of my car and tried to stay away by going round the car with him following me. He was offending me and swearing. His right hand was being held down all the time and he was only making movements with his left hand as though he had something hidden up his sleeve,” he said.

He said he was worried that he would damage his father’s car and said that at one point, he ran towards his aunt’s house further down that road but no one was home. Outside the house, he said, there was a pot so he decided to take it with him to scare him with it.

“When I got close to my car, the man obstructed my way. With his left arm he stopped me and with his right he hit me with something hard. He hit me about three times, once on my arm, once on my head and another behind my ear. I did not do anything with the pot and I have no idea what happened to it,” he said.

Mr Testa continued: “I was in so much pain. When the ambulance arrived I felt like an octopus was crawling inside me. I lost consciousness and I got a fit. I had a hole in my skull and I needed another operation to close it off. I could not control my right arm.”

When shown the piece of wood that was allegedly used to hit him, he said that was the first time he was seeing it.

When asked about the after effects of the incident, Mr Testa said: “I could not drive for a year and I had to stop sports. I live with constant headaches and I went to physiotherapy to regain sensitivity in my right hand.”

Testifying later on during yesterday’s sitting, the accused, who is an aircraft technician and is married with two children, explained his version of events on that February evening in 2003.

Mr Hili said he was on his way to his mother’s house and as he was driving down a one-way street, another car came and he asked the other driver to reverse a few feet so he could pass. He said the driver reversed but he still could not pass. He said the driver got out of the car and started shouting and swearing.

“I got out of car and told him that he only had to reverse a few feet. All of a sudden he left and when he came back seconds later he had something in his hand. I put my hand through the passenger window of my car and got hold of the first thing that I found. He approached me with the pot in his hand and he threw it at me and I hit him with the wooden baton I had in my hand. Two people came from behind me and took the stick. I got into the car, reversed and went to my mother’s house,” he said.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono pointed out that the wooden baton which was allegedly used was sculptured and his fingers fit perfectly as though it was a made-to-measure weapon. But Mr Hili did not offer an explanation.

Under cross-examination, Mr Hili said he did not intend to fight and did not want problems. “He hurled the pot at me but he did not hit me. I know I hit him but I do not know where. It’s not true that I continued to hit him even when he was on the ground. I only hit him once,” he said.

The case continues this morning and is expected to come to an end today. For the more serious offence – that of attempted murder – Mr Hili faces a maximum of 30 years behind bars.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Mark Said prosecuted. Dr John Attard Montalto and Dr Ian Farrugia appeared for Mr Hili while Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Manwel Mallia appeared in parte civile for Mr Testa.