A man has been conditionally discharged after starting a fight in which he ended up being threatened with pepper spray, struck with a spirit level and a hoe and suffering fractured vertebrae and shoulder bones.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli heard how, on 5 August 2011 Antoine Saliba, 36, had been changing the locks to a Zebbug flat rented out to Joseph Borg, who was in arrears on his dues. On the day of the incident, the landlord, Saliba’s mother, had informed Borg that she was going, together with her husband, to clean the flat and had let herself in. Upon finding heavy damage to the apartment and none of Borg’s belongings inside, bar his cat, she concluded that he had abandoned the property.

But as the couple was leaving the flat, they bumped into Borg, carrying a box for the cat. He promised to go get his money to pay the rent there and then, leaving the box on the floor. After waiting for Borg to reappear with the money for two hours, she instructed her son to change the locks.

Later that day, at around 9pm, she had received a phone call from Borg, demanding that she send her son, Antoine to the premises. She had told her husband to accompany the son, as she had heard several voices in the background and was worried for his safety.

Police Inspectors Anthony Cachia  and Roderick Agius told the court that CCTV footage showed Saliba as having thrown the first punch at Joseph Borg, cutting him above the eye and causing him to bleed heavily. The same footage showed Borg and his friends, who had been sitting on the pavement, getting up and chasing the accused, beating him up.
The inspector said that at a point a certain Silvester Zahra had started hitting Saliba with a hoe and that Borg had grabbed a spirit level and used it to assault the man too.

However, despite being confronted with the video, Saliba denied punching Borg. He told the police that he had noticed a group of men about to attack him and that they were carrying pepper spray.

A doctor who examined Saliba testified that he had suffered a deep wound on his back, around 5cm in length, which had penetrated the muscular layer. He also had several grazes and scratches and a piece of glass was embedded in the sole of his foot.

A later CT scan established that he had suffered fractures to his shoulder and one of his vertebrae, causing the injuries to be classified as grievous.

The court, after examining case law on legitimate self defence, said this argument could not stand. “The court believes that the accused did not go with the intention of fighting, originally. It is also convinced that Joseph Borg took his friends with him because he predicted there would be trouble or went for trouble.”

Although Borg had claimed to have brought his friends to help him carry out his belongings, the court said that this was not true. The man had already taken the vast majority of the items belonging to him inside the flat. “Besides this, it emerges that they took several tools as well as pepper spray with them and in fact did not hesitate to use them on the accused…who suffered a permanent disability.”

But Saliba had also testified that Borg had offended him and that he had responded in kind. Before the fight started, Saliba had told him that he was going to get the police and climbed into his van. While doing this, he said, he had seen Borg’s friends appear and so had gone to confront him. “Whilst there is no doubt that Saliba might have felt fearful, his actions did not help the situation much.”

The court also ruled, however, that the accused should not be found guilty of grievously injuring Borg, who had no remaining scars as a consequence of the blow to his face.

Finding him guilty of slightly injuring the man instead, the court conditionally discharged Borg for 6 months.