Footloose beating 'victim' was actually ringleader of violent mob, court rules

A scuffle that started inside the club descended into a brawl between three Maltese men and two Bulgarians, with the number of Maltese rising to at least 10 outside the club

Two Bulgarian men who had been involved in a street fight with a group of locals in Paceville in 2009 have been cleared of grievously injuring one of the men, on the grounds of self-defense, after the alleged victim turned out to be the ringleader of the 10-strong group.

Stefan Praskov, 31, and Iliev Yulian, 35, residing in St Julian's, had been charged with grievously injuring a man, Matthew Agius, and unintentionally placing his life in jeopardy, when a fight broke out at Footloose Bar during the early hours of January 14, 2009.

An argument had erupted after the two Bulgarians had attempted to enter the ladies' bathroom at the club.

After they were ejected from the club, the scuffle descended into a brawl involving the two accused and three Maltese men, Agius among them.

Together with a number of eyewitnesses, both of the accused men as well as the victim had testified to the events of that January morning.

Agius, who had been grievously injured, had told the court that he had been knocked down with a metal dustbin the moment the exited the bar and was beaten up by the Bulgarians as he lay on the ground.

They had attacked him again as he was walking towards his car, he said.

The manager of the bar had claimed that after the Bulgarians had been thrown out of the establishment, they had started upending dustbins outside the club and throwing bottles around before punching the victim for no reason at all.

But both accused had given an altogether different account, testifying to having been set upon by a gang, which was later estimated to have consisted of between 10 and 15 Maltese men, after they had been thrown out of the bar.

Three of the men had chased and finally cornered the Bulgarians, who said they had been defending themselves. Agius had been leading the pack, encouraging the others, while punching and kicking Praskov, the court had been told.

“I was defending myself because I was being attacked by many people and I did not have time to attack,” Praskov had told the court.

As the fight progressed, Yulian had run to the nearest police station for help.

The court of magistrates with magistrate Marse-Anne Farrugia presiding, said that it was more inclined to believe the accused's accounts, which had been near-identical and which had been given to the police in the immediate aftermath of the incident and before the men had spoken to a lawyer.

Being struck with a metal dustbin should have left a mark on Agius and there was no medical record of this.

The court said it did not believe the version of events given by Agius, saying it was unlikely that someone would throw a punch for no reason at all, unless that someone was drunk – which did not appear to be the case.

The magistrate noted that it had been one of the accused rather than the victim's friends who had sought the assistance of the law and this strengthened further the reasonable doubt regarding the accused’s guilt.

Praskov and Yulian were acquitted of all charges.

Inspector Trevor Micallef prosecuted.

Lawyer Mark Busuttil was defence counsel.