77-year-old ‘enjoyed’ throwing bucket of urine at neighbour after long-standing argument

A 77-year-old man was today placed under a probation for three years after being found guilty of breaching bail conditions and of throwing a bucket full of urine at his neighbour.

Giovanni Caruana, 77, of Sliema, was also found guilty of threatening his neighbour, Noel Agius, and of breaching public peace. He was however acquitted of throwing the bucket negligently.

The court heard that on 23 September at around 6:25pm, the victim, Noel Agius, was parking his motorcycle in front of his garage in Triq Graham, Sliema. It is understood that as soon as the victim went to open his garage, the accused showered him with a bucketful of urine.

Sources close to the investigation said the accused also insulted his victim with disparaging words and gestures. The court heard that initially, the victim thought that he had been showered with a bucket of water.

However, the accused himself told he had thrown a “bucket full of urine mixed with water at his victim.” Moreover, the accused is said to have insulted the police, called them ignorant and claimed that they did not know what they were doing.

Prosecuting inspector Jason Francis Sultana said that accused admitted with him that the bucket “contained week-old urine that had been left in the sun to ferment.”

Standing before Magistrate Josette Demicoli, Caruana repeatedly said he “enjoyed throwing urine”at his victim. Moreover, the accused – who, during the sitting, constantly interrupted the parte civile and the magistrate – said that he “never went to prison, and that he may have to pay a visit now that he is 77-years old.”

Testifying, Agius said that argument started over a year ago, when the accused parked in front of the victim’s garage. Agius said that he then left a note on his windscreen.

“From then onwards, we started finding several scratches on our cars. We reported the matter to the police and installed four CCTV cameras. We then found out that the accused had been scratching my cars,” he said, adding that they are currently undergoing criminal proceedings.

The accused is pleading not guilty to damaging the victim’s vehicles and is currently on bail. Among his conditions, the accused is prohibited from approaching his victims.

“I do not know whether he is angry with the world. Another time, he tried to drive into my wife’s car,” he said.

Asked to explain Tuesday’s incident, Agius said that as soon as he opened his garage, he noticed some spit on the ground, and that “as soon as [he] looked up, saw a bucket of water coming down onto me.”

Testifying, the accused said he threw the bucket of urine after the accused allegedly threatened him to fight and provoked him. Caruana also said that Agius had previously mugged him and left him bloodied. At this point, lawyer Gianluca Caruana Curran intervened, to which the accused told him “not to disturb me and to move away from the bench.”

“I left a bucket of urine there. I enjoyed smelling it. I am not a scientist, I did not know that this was going to happen,” Caruana said when asked why he had left the urine there.

The parte civile also said that the accused ignored court orders not to approach his victim. “The accused is constantly ignoring the court’s orders and to this effect, he should be jailed.”

Lawyer Gianluca Caruana Curran was parte civile for the victim, while Lawyer Joe Ellis was legal aid. Inspector Jason Francis Sultana led the prosecution.