Father, son charged with assaulting cousin after he insulted recently deceased child

A father and son were arraigned in court on Monday, accused of assaulting a cousin of theirs with a spirit level and smashing his car’s windscreen, allegedly in retaliation for his insulting the son’s recently deceased child.

Inspector Audrey Micallef charged the two Syrian nationals: Waled Ebou Ismail, 56, residing in Bulgaria where he enjoys subsidiary protection and Khaleb Eibo, 27, who lives in St. Paul’s Bay.

The court was told that the two defendants were father and son and lived together in the St. Paul’s bay apartment.

Walid, who is the victim’s uncle and Khaleb, the victim’s cousin, were charged with slightly injuring the victim, causing him to fear violence, slightly injuring him, damaging the windscreen of his car, as well as assaulting, insulting and threatening him. They were also accused of breaching the peace.

Inspector Micallef told magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace that last week, the Hamrun police station had received a call at around 11pm about an argument that turned violent. At the scene officers had found a Syrian man, bleeding from a head wound. He told them that he had just been attacked by his uncle and cousin.

The man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where his injuries were classified as slight. Afterwards, he had told the police how he had been sitting in his car, when his cousin’s car pulled up alongside. The two defendants had emerged and proceeded to assault him, said the inspector. One of the assailants had retrieved a metal spirit level from the car and had hit him on the head with it.

The defendants, assisted by lawyers Franco Debono and Noel Bianco, both filed not guilty pleas. The defence requested bail.

The lawyers told the court that Khaleb had just suffered the death of his infant child, explaining that the alleged victim’s insults and taunts about the deceased child had led to a violent reaction.

Inspector Micallef objected to the bail request, arguing that the two men had both participated in the assault of the lone victim, adding that at no time during their interrogation had they mentioned insults as the cause of the altercation.

There was a real risk that Waled would abscond, she said, explaining that he had told her himself that he held a Bulgarian residence permit and had a fixed place of residence there. Waled had come to Malta for the first time in 12 years with the intention of spending a few months here to keep his Maltese residency permit.

For the defence, Debono argued that the charges were of slight injury and could have been prosecuted by summons. He argued that the elder defendant had travelled to Malta to visit his son and family, and so also had ties to the country. He had just experienced a traumatic event, added the lawyer.

The court was not persuaded by the defence’s arguments, however, and denied both men bail.

The defence then requested the court allow the defendants to be allowed out of custody under police supervision for two days, in order to make funeral arrangements for the child. The court rejected that request too, saying that it could not grant two days.

The court did, however, make a recommendation to the Prison Director to allow, as much as was possible in the circumstances, the defendants to make preparations for, and attend, the child’s funeral.