Tigné stabbing victim recounts being knifed six times by ‘visibly drunk’ man

A 21-year-old British man who was stabbed six times earlier this month has testified in the compilation of evidence against the man accused of attempting to murder him.

The accused, Hisham Ali Abuagilla from Libya, a 38-year-old Sliema resident, is pleading not guilty to the charges.

Luke Daniel Jones testified today, telling Magistrate Doreen Clarke how he had been stabbed in the chest, neck, back and face. He had felt nothing at the time but had later fallen unconscious. The stabbing incident happened in Tigné, Sliema.

Before testifying, Jones was cautioned by the court and told he had a right to silence as the police might be taking action against him in future. Jones opted to testify anyway.

Lawyer George Camilleri from the Office of the Attorney General examined the witness, asking what had happened on the night of the stabbing and what his relationship with the accused was.

Jones told the court that he had gone out for drinks with two work colleagues to a bar in Paceville, late that night. When the bar closed, one of his friends suggested they should meet up with the accused, so the witness and his friends had caught a taxi to the Sliema promenade where they met the accused.

Once in Sliema, at around 3am, the group went to Abuagilla’s house for a while before heading off to Tigné beach carrying a bottle of bourbon.

Asked about the relationship with the accused, the witness said he had met him through a mutual friend and they had met around four times in total. He described the accused as the person to go to for advice on bars and parties.

The defence objected to questions by the prosecution as to what had happened next, and after approaching the bench, the questions were postponed to a later date with the court suggesting that Jones should seek legal advice before he is summoned again.

But the witness told the court that he had no problem testifying about what happened at the accused’s flat as all the group had done was chat and drink.

After going to the beach, the group continued to drink. At a point one of the witness’s friends started to look for his phone, which he had misplaced. When he moved the accused’s bag, the accused got very angry, recalled the witness.

The friend had approached another group of people, which enraged the, now “visibly drunk”, accused, Jones said. The accused then punched Jones’s friend in the face before being pulled away by the witness, he said, but soon lunged again at the victim. The pair went to the ground, where the fight continued.

“He said that he would do what needs to be done,” the witness told the court, when asked if he recalled the accused saying anything during the fight, but added that he did not understand what he meant.

The fight lasted less than 15 seconds, Jones said, before the accused had fled the scene. The witness said he got up slowly and his friends started asking him if he was injured as he was bleeding.

It transpired that the friend who Jones had intervened to help had already fled when the accused and the victim had got into fisticuffs.

An ambulance was called and Jones said he passed out when they reached the road from the beach.

Jones spent a week in hospital and six weeks recovering from the injuries he sustained.

Answering a question put to him by Camilleri, he said that the two work colleagues he had originally gone out with had not visited him in hospital.

As the sitting came to a close, the magistrate decreed that there was enough evidence for the accused to be indicted.

The sitting was adjourned to 6 October.

Police Inspectors Colin Sheldon and Wayne Camilleri prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyers George Camilleri and Etienne Savona.

Lawyer Noel Bianco was defence counsel.