Man crippled by beating with iron chain receives €6,000 in damages from aggressor

A boathouse owner, who was left with a crippled left arm after being beaten with a two-metre iron chain by a neighbour to whom he had complained about a puddle of dirty water collecting outside his property, was awarded almost €6,000 in damages.

62-year-old Mario Vella approached Etienne Fenech, the owner of a neighbouring boathouse in St Paul’s Bay, who was washing a boat next door on an evening in September 2010.

Fenech was cleaning a boat just outside his own property further up the road, which was at a slightly higher level to Vella’s. The dirty water was running down the road, collecting in a puddle near Vella’s boathouse.

Passing vehicles were splashing the murky water onto a parked car belonging to Vella’s son, so he approached his neighbour to bring the matter to his attention.

An argument developed, later degenerating into fisticuffs with Vella and his son, on one side and Fenech and his brother-in-law, on the other.

At one point during the fight, Fenech allegedly fetched a two-metre long iron chain and hit his neighbour with it. He later argued that he had simply been attempting to defend his brother-in-law from the other two men.

A magistrates court were convinced by this explanation and found Fenech criminally responsible for the attack, concluding that even if he had acted in self-defence, he had done so in excess of legitimate limits.

Vella then filed civil proceedings, seeking damages for the injuries he had suffered.

In a decision handed down by the First Hall of the Civil Court, with Justice Lawrence Mintoff presiding, the judge observed that the court was faced with two conflicting versions of events, but that the version given by Vella was more convincing and consistent than that of Fenech, who had changed his account repeatedly.

Fenech argued that it was impossible for him to have wielded a heavy chain, claiming to have been left with a weak left hand and 12 fractures in his right hand as a result of a traffic accident.

The court, however, observed that Fenech was washing a boat at the time of the incident, and he himself stated that he lifted the heavy chain with both hands.

In addition to his contradictory testimony, Fenech suffered no injuries and had summoned no witnesses to support his defence, despite stating that other family members were present during the scuffle.

Noting that Vella suffered a torn bicep muscle in his left arm during the thrashing, which was medically established as causing him a 3% permanent disability, the judge found Fenech responsible for Vella’s injury, ordering him to pay €5,977.80 in damages to the injured man.

In a parallel lawsuit filed by Antoine Spiteri, the brother-in-law involved in the same incident, against Mario Vella and his son Matthew, was awarded €8,190 in damages when he was punched by the pair.

On the basis of the evidence seen by the court, which was also presided by judge Mintoff, it was observed that Spiteri had been punched by both father and son during the fight outside the boathouses.

Medical experts had assessed that damage to the man’s cheekbone, inflicted by the elder Vella, had left the victim with a lingering pain and restricted his capacity to chew.

In that case, the court ordered Mario Vella to pay Spiteri €8,190 in damages, on the basis of the fact that the victim, who was 38 at the time of the incident, had a working life expectancy of some 26 years and had suffered a 3% permanent disability.

Matthew Vella was not found liable for damages.