Man granted bail over Sunday knife incident in Birkirkara bar

Lawyers for a man charged after allegedly pulling a knife on a fellow bar patron during an argument, have once again argued that it was unjust of the police to fail to summon witnesses for his arraignment.

Joseph Micallef, 50, from Birkirkara appeared in the dock before magistrate Elaine Mercieca this morning, accused of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to another man, amongst other charges. Inspector Ritienne Gauci told the court that officers from the Birkirkara police station had been dispatched to assist after a report of a fight at a bar in their town was received at 8:30am on Sunday.

When the officers arrived, they found the situation to have calmed down, she said. The alleged victim had explained to the police how Micallef had started to argue with him and call him names. As the confrontation heated up, the accused allegedly drew a knife and tried to attack his opponent, but had been held back by other patrons who had intervened. He then left the bar.

The victim had indicated the accused as the man who attacked him, she said. The police mounted a search for Micallef.

The man was apprehended following a tip off, after he was spotted near a playground in the town, said the inspector.

Cross-examined by lawyer Franco Debono, appearing for the accused, the inspector confirmed that no one had been injured in the altercation and that the entire incident had been captured on CCTV.

It was also established that the accused has a clean criminal record.

A not guilty plea was entered by the defence, which also requested bail. The prosecution objected to Micallef’s release from arrest, citing the risk of him tampering with evidence and pointing to two civilian witnesses who had yet to testify and could be approached.

Debono explained that his client’s brother had dropped dead some years ago inside the same establishment. Micallef had heard that someone was joking about this fact, he said.

The lawyer emphasised that the accused was a law abiding citizen and had no previous run-ins with the law.

The lawyer then repeated an argument that he had made on several previous occasions, stressing that the police had not summoned any witnesses for the arraignment. 

The police “wanted to place a person with a clean criminal record in prison”, he argued, pointing out that had the accused been a tourist due to fly home, the witnesses would be summoned to testify during the arraignment.

“We’ve seen a lot of these cases. I am stating the obvious, but it seems like I have to keep repeating myself until we realise that I’m right,” Debono said. He stressed that there was no impediment to the prosecution following this practice, “no law needs to change.”

Nobody was injured in the incident which had been captured on CCTV in its entirety, stressed the defence, adding that the accused was 50 years old and had steady employment. 

“Some jurists insist that the crime of attempted grievous bodily harm doesn’t even exist,” argued the lawyer. 

The argument that this was done to avoid forum shopping could only apply to the prosecution, said the lawyer. “The defence has no say on when a person is to be arraigned.”

Forum shopping could not have taken place in this case, as the incident in question occurred yesterday, he added.

“In this case there is no indication that the accused would not obey his bail conditions,” concluded the lawyer.

After retiring briefly to chambers to deliberate, the magistrate returned to the courtroom. At this point, Debono made another submission, pointing out that the charges did not necessarily carry a sentence of imprisonment. “If this person is not given bail and is remanded in custody, and then is either not found guilty or is not given a custodial sentence, he would have suffered an injustice.”

Magistrate Elaine Mercieca, after taking note of the submissions, as well as the fact that the prosecution had conceded that the incident had been captured on CCTV, upheld the man’s bail request.

Bail was secured by a deposit of €3,500 and a €7,500 personal guarantee. He was ordered not to approach the bar in question or the victim.