Two cleared of causing grievous bodily harm during brawl outside band club

Two men were cleared of causing another man grievous bodily harm during a fight which erupted at a Birkirkara band club.

Josef Bonnici, a 38-year-old man, and Aosama Elnaib, a 26-year-old, had both been charged with causing another man grievous bodily harm, attempting to use force against the victim with intent to insult, annoy or hurt him, as well as breaching public peace.

The case concerned a brawl which took place almost three years ago on 14 August, where numerous individuals, including Elnaib, had suffered injuries.

According to the prosecution, Elnaib was involved in an argument with the alleged victim, Darren Sawyer, and another man, Aaron Vella, at a Birkirkara band club. The argument, it was contended, continued outside the establishment, at which stage other persons, including Bonnici, involved themselves.

It was alleged that Sawyer had been struck by two persons, with the corollary that he suffered injuries of a grievous nature.

Police officers who had been present at the scene to maintain public order and who intervened when the argument started inside the establishment testified during proceedings. They declared that they had found a “huge commotion inside the band club, with a lot of shouting and noise”. It was established that there were various men fighting and arguing between themselves, and that police had removed several persons from the establishment.

After managing to de-escalate the situation, the officers were informed that the fight had restarted in the road behind the club, where Sawyer was eventually found wounded and “full of blood”.

A woman who also suffered injuries that day, Irene Debono, also testified. With regard to the events which had taken place outside the club, she informed the Court that she had witnessed “confusion, shouting, noise and a huge fight” as well as Sawyer and another man fighting with various persons who she could not recognise. At that juncture, an aggressor who she could not identify grabbed her and pushed her to the floor.

The court, in considering all the evidence adduced before it, noted at the outset that the prosecution had failed to bring forward any proof relative to Josef Bonnici.

In relation to Elnaib, it was noted, inter alia, that the fact that Irene Debono did not identify him as the person who was fighting with Vella and Sawyer outside the establishment, when she had positively identified him as the person who previously had argued with them outside the club’s toilets, reduced the court’s conviction that it was indeed Elnaib, and not another individual, who had occasioned the injuries suffered by Sawyer.

Moreover, the victim himself, when testifying, did not identify his aggressor - so much so that he stated that he “never wanted to know who the persons who struck him were”.

Ultimately, the court held that it could not serenely conclude that all the proof unequivocally points towards Elnaib as the individual who caused the alleged victim the grievous injuries. Indeed, it was held that both the proof and witnesses heard by the court gave rise to a reasonable doubt as regards Elnaib’s guilt vis-à-vis the grievous bodily harm.

Bonnici and Elnaib were ultimately cleared of the grievous bodily harm charge. The latter, however, was found guilty of disturbing public peace and consequently fined €58.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Shaun Zammit appeared for both defendants.