A man was placed on probation yesterday after he was found guilty of seriously injuring a man when he bit off part of his ear during an argument on Christmas Day.

Charles Joseph Deguara, 23, from Iklin, was found guilty of biting off part of Lee Ross’s left ear on Christmas Day 2005 in a bar in St Julian’s.

The court heard Mr Ross testify that while he was watching some of his friends arguing, he suddenly felt a pain in his left ear, and thought that someone had accidentally hit him. A doctor who treated him in hospital had told him that the lower part of his left ear was missing. Other witnesses failed to identify Deguara as the culprit.

Deguara denied biting off Mr Ross’s ear and testified that on the night he sat on a sofa and a man he didn’t know asked him to leave as it was his place. After shrugging off the man’s headlock, Deguara said he realised that the man was backed by a group and he fled from the bar and hid in a construction site.

He testified that he was later approached to apologise to Mr Ross and he did so, more out of fear of worrying his father, who had a heart condition, than out of remorse, as he was sure that he had not bitten anyone.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that Deguara had not been coerced into confessing, therefore his apologies via a text message and in court can be considered as an admission of his guilt. She placed him on probation for three years.

Police Inspector Mario Tonna prosecuted.