Kebab shop employee charged after leaving drunk customer grievously injured

A man has denied assaulting a drunk customer at a kebab shop in St. Paul’s Bay on Sunday night, in an incident which left the other man in intensive care.

Fawzi Khalifa, a 20-year-old Egyptian national, was arraigned before magistrate Nadine Lia earlier today, charged with having caused grievous bodily harm to a Ukrainian man and breaching the peace.

The defence is claiming that the victim had gone to the shop while heavily intoxicated and had insisted on staying after he was asked to leave by Khalifa, who is the son of the shop owner. In the ensuing argument, the defendant punched the drunken man, who subsequently fell to the ground.

The court was told that the Ukrainian man had later been found to have a blood alcohol level of 307 mg/dl. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and remains in a critical condition, under intensive care. Khalifa’s lawyers are arguing that the man’s injuries were, at least in part, the result of his drunken fall.

The victim remains in hospital, but is no longer in the ITU.

Khalifa pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Bail was set at €3,000, which had to be deposited in the acts of the proceedings. The defendant was ordered to sign a bail book every day and not to approach the victim.

Police Inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri is prosecuting, together with lawyers Maria Meilaq Schembri and Claire Sammut from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Mario Mifsud, Nicholas Mifsud, Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin are assisting Khalifa.