Accused gets part of his nose bitten off after failed hold-up attempt, court hears

A would-be robber had part of his nose bitten off when he unsuccessfully held up Paschalino Cefai at gunpoint at his home in Gozo yesterday.

Cefai, 43, and the intruder, 39-year-old Viktor Markovic from Serbia were both arraigned separately before magistrate Brigitte Sultana in Gozo on Thursday, August 10 by police inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri.

The court was told that Markovic, armed with a handgun, had broken into Cefai’s Zebbug home, just before midnight last night, intending to carry out a theft. The robbery did not quite go as planned, however, and Cefai confronted the would-be thief, grabbing the weapon and trying to wrest it from Markovic’s hands. The ensuing struggle allegedly ended up with Cefai biting the man on the nose, chewing off around an inch of it in the process. 

Cefai pleaded not guilty to grievously injuring Markovic, who appeared in court with his nose heavily bandaged. He also denied charges relating to an unrelated incident that occurred two days before in which Cefai had allegedly caused slight injury to his partner, threatened and attacked her and also damaged a car, while on bail for other offences.

He was released on bail against a €1,000 deposit and a €14,000 personal guarantee, being ordered to sign a bail book every week and observe a curfew.

Markovic was charged with carrying a firearm during the commission of a crime against the person, attempted aggravated theft, committing a violation of another person’s property, insulting and threatening Cefai and breaching previous bail conditions.

Markovic was also released on bail after pleading not guilty to the charges against him. A restraining order was imposed in favour of Cefai and a protection order issued in favour of Markovic.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Charles Merceica appeared for Cefai, while lawyer Joseph Grech represented Markovic.