Security guard recalls Samurai sword attack: 'He’d have cleaved my head in two'

Proceedings against a Libyan man accused of injuring a bouncer with a Samurai sword last year have continued, with the victim and a number of his colleagues giving their account of events to magistrate Doreen Clarke.

Police Inspector Matthew Spagnol testified that on the morning of 21 May last year, police responded to a report of an attack involving the use of a sword in Paceville club Havana.

Three men were involved in a fight with a group of Libyans, one of whom was brandishing a sword and another a wooden club.

The combatants did not know each other, said the policeman.

CCTV footage seized by police clearly showed the three men.

One, later identified as the accused, Mohamed Ali Ahmed Elmusraty, was wearing a mask and holding something that “looked like a sword in its scabbard.”

The sword was never recovered.

Two men were seen following the accused, one wearing a cap. These men were charged in May last year, but Elmusraty evaded the law by fleeing the country.

The accused eventually returned and popped up on the police radar when he was arrested on 27 October in connection with an armed robbery in Qawra.

He was later found to have no connection with the latter crime.

The court also heard the testimony of the three Maltese bouncers involved in the incident.

One described how his life was saved when someone pulled him out of the path of the down swinging sword by his belt. Instead of cleaving the man’s head in two, the tip of the blade made contact with a cigarette lighter in his pocket, causing it to explode and cause the security guard to suffer minor burns.

“A group of Arabs had come after us, one with a sword, the other with I don’t know what in his hand. I had been working as security at Deja Vu and Clique, ” said the injured bouncer.

“Face covered, carrying a large sword. He hit me on my lighter... had he hit me on my head he’d have killed me.”

The witness recognised the accused in court from Paceville. He and his group of friends were known troublemakers, he said.

“They’re always involved in arguments. We had kicked them out 3 times. But as we had given chances to other persons, we gave them a chance too.”

“They were at a table drinking at Deja Vu. All of a sudden, I don’t know what happened. They smashed the tables, glasses and left the club.”

The men were prevented from re-entering later on, he said.

The security guard explained that the attack occurred shortly after the men were denied entry, as his back was turned. “Had someone not shouted ‘look out’ he’d have cleaved my head in two.”

Another bouncer corroborated this account. “The man over there had given Carmelo a sword blow to his leg,” he said.

Another bouncer explained that the Libyan group would always cause trouble. “Whenever these guys would turn up, it would be to fight.”

The case continues.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Angie Muscat are defence counsel.