Man injured while defending woman awarded €64,920

A Gozitan man, who lost his eyesight when defending a woman being beaten by her husband during the Ghajnsielem feast, was awarded €64,930 in damages.

The case goes back to 27 August 2006, when the village of Ghajnsielem was celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Loreto. Martin Xerri had just left the PN Club when he noticed Joseph Rapa shouting his wife and assaulting her.

Xerri intervened to defend the woman, however after the aggressor calmed down for a short time, he assaulted the woman again and knocked her to the floor.

While Xerri was helping the woman to her feet, Rapa and his brother Carmel started hitting him. The woman’s husband hit him over his right eye with a brick, while the brother hit him with a chair.

The victim lost consciousness and was rushed to the Gozo General Hospital. He lost his eyesight from his right eye and suffered from continuous headaches.

Xerri sued the Rapa brothers, who claimed it was the victim who had provoked the incident. “We simply defended ourselves from his aggression”, Joseph Rapa told the court. However the First Hall of the Civil Court ruled that the Rapa brothers were responsible for the incident and ordered them to pay €40,744 in damages. Xerri appealed, claiming the amount was not enough.

In May 2010, Joseph Rapa paid Xerri €20,000 against an agreement that Xerri drops his appeal. But neither the Court of Appeal not Carmel Rapa were made aware of the deal.

Two years later, in June 2012, the Court of Appeal ordered the Rapa brothers to pay the victim €64,920. It was at this stage that the court was informed that Joseph Rapa had already paid €20,000 and Xerri intended to drop his claim.

Never the less, Judges Noel Cuschieri, Joseph Azzopardi and Joseph Zammit McKeon ruled that after deducting the monies already paid to the victim, the Rapa brothers are to pay a further €44,920 to Martin Xerri.