Man charged over drunken fight, wrecking parked Ducati bike with a metal grate

An alcohol-fuelled incident that resulted in a man being slightly injured and a motorcycle heavily damaged has landed a man in the dock facing criminal charges.

This emerged in court as Inspector Jonathan Ransley arraigned a 24-year-old Peruvian worker from Gzira before magistrate Joe Mifsud on Thursday.

The man was charged with inflicting slight injuries on another man using a sharp and pointed instrument, voluntarily causing over €2,500 worth of damage to private property - in this case a Ducati motorcycle - and breaching the peace. The incident took place in Gzira at around 2 am on Sunday.

It emerged in court that the accused, who said he worked at a laundrette, had told the police that he had been very drunk at the time. He had drunk a lot of vodka lime and had got himself involved in a fight. At a point he had pulled out a metal grate from the road and started to hit the parked Ducati with it, causing around €3000 of damage to the motorcycle, which belonged to a third party who had no connection to the incident.

Inspector Ransley informed the magistrate that checks with Interpol’s Lima office had confirmed that the accused had a clean criminal record.

A plea of “not guilty” was entered.

The accused addressed the court, explaining that he had been shocked when he found out what he had done. He said he was ashamed of what happened, adding that it was out of character for him and that he was drunk.

The court explained to the accused that voluntary intoxication was not an excuse at law. 

Defence lawyer Daniel Attard requested bail, which was granted by the court, against a personal guarantee of €5000 and was ordered to sign a bail book twice a week. The court told the accused to continue to work, in order to pay for the damage that he had caused to the motorcycle by the next sitting, which is scheduled for May. 

The Court imposed a ban on the publication of the name of the accused, whom it described as “a victim of human trafficking.”