A Marsaxlokk man has been fined Lm300 after he was found guilty of slightly injuring two men in a fight that broke out in Paceville over a Russian girl.

Timothy Briffa, 26, was found guilty of slightly injuring Elton-Joseph Caruana and Malcolm Mallia when he punched them during a brawl in Paceville on 3 November last year.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Edwina Grima, heard how the victims intervened when the Russian woman, who was a girlfriend of one of them, was irked by the extra attention Briffa was giving her and retaliated. As a result, Briffa began punching them, slightly injuring them.

Briffa told the court that it all started when the Russian woman hit him with her handbag for no particular reason. Subsequently, he continued to tell the court, three youths got involved and he ran away. The police eventually intercepted him and he was arrested.

The court, however, said it did not believe Briffa’s version of events and said that it was more probable that he was fleeing the police rather than the youths because if he was really petrified he would have gone to the police for their protection.

As a result, Magistrate Grima ruled that he was guilty of slightly injuring the two men and fined him Lm300.

Police Inspector Carlo Ellul prosecuted.