Bail granted to 24-year-old with long criminal record after breaching bail conditions during fight

A man from Tarxien has been granted bail after he ended up in the dock for punching a man who was assaulting his friend with a shovel, breaking the man’s nose.

Inspector Paul Camilleri charged 24-year-old customer care agent Ramirez Vella of Tarxien with attacking and grievously injuring another man in an altercation in Fgura on August 7. Vella was also charged with making insults and threats addressed to the same man and carrying a knife in public without a police permit. He was also accused of breaching bail conditions he had been placed under in 2019 in connection with a drug bust.

Vella pleaded not guilty to assaulting the neighbour, causing grievous injuries, carrying a weapon without the necessary police licence as well as breaching bail. The inspector told Magistrate Joseph Gatt how, last Monday, the police had received simultaneous reports at Fgura and Paola, about a fight over a vehicle belonging to a friend of the defendant. The friend had left the scene after being hit with a shovel, only to return a short while later, accompanied by Vella. 

Vella had allegedly punched the assailant on the nose, causing a fracture which was later certified at Mater Dei Hospital as grievous. 

Nearby CCTV cameras only captured the initial argument and exchange of insults, and not the altercation itself, said the inspector.

The defendant, who was on bail in connection with other proceedings, was arrested at the police station when he went to sign his bail book. A number of pocket knives were later recovered from the property where the defendant lived with his mother. 

Lawyer Jacob Magri, assisting the defendant, suggested that the other party was also a suspect and could therefore be charged. The inspector confirmed this was true. 

Before a plea was entered, presiding Magistrate Joseph Gatt invited the defence lawyer to have a look at Vella’s criminal record, which he proceeded to do.

Vella, who told the court he worked as a customer care agent, pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

Magri requested bail for his client, conceding that Vella had “some previous scrapes and run-ins with the law,” due to a past drug problem, but pointing out that he was on bail pending an appeal. 

The lawyer suggested that the case seemed to have been “blown slightly out of proportion.” “He had an argument, according to the parte civile, and his friend was hit with a shovel. The defence went on to explain that after receiving his friend’s call for aid, Vella had gone to protect him from an assault by three men. Vella’s defence would be based on self-defence, said the lawyer.

This was the only incident in which Vella had been charged with breaching bail in the four years since his release from arrest.

Inspector Camilleri entered an objection to bail, explaining that the reason he arraigned Vella under arrest was not fear of intimidation of the witness, because the victim was champing at the bit to do so. “The issue is that Ramirez was in breach of his bail conditions.”

Answering questions from the magistrate, Vella said he signed his bail book every day and resided with his mother. 

Magistrate Gatt granted the man bail, pointing out that he didn’t normally do so at the arraignment stage and remarking that this was only the second time that he had done so. 

A protection order was issued in favour of the alleged victim, Vella was also prohibited from going to Fgura. Bail was secured by a €1,000 deposit and a €2,000 personal guarantee.

The magistrate admonished the defendant. “You are only 24 years old, your criminal record is 3 pages long. Don’t ruin your life. Don’t embarrass me.” 

Footage from the scene of the scuffle apparently showed the verbal exchange and the waving of pen knives but not the blows, said the prosecutor. However, those weapons, later shown to police by the accused himself when they searched his mother's home, were only used to intimidate.