Footage of savage Paceville beating leads to Serb's imprisonment

Aleksander Marinkovich, 26, jailed for a year for beating up two people in a Paceville nightclub in 2014 

A man has been jailed for a year after CCTV footage showed him delivering a brutal beating in a Paceville nightclub.

26 year-old Serbian Aleksander Marinkovich was accused of attacking two men and a woman on 2 May 2014, after he had been splashed with some water that the woman's boyfriend had spat in her direction.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard how Mario Farrugia, his friend Clayton Grech and Grech’s girlfriend Ingrid Galea had been socializing at the Move nightclub, when the accused started grabbing Galea’s arm repeatedly.

Grech spat some water that he had been drinking in the direction of his girlfriend and the accused – apparently a bid to attract her attention.

This move did not go down well with the accused, who circled a column to come directly behind the victim before delivering several blows to Grech's head. CCTV footage shows Marinkovich jerking his head towards Grech before his companions held the victim down and punched him repeatedly.

Grech, who was later certified as having suffered grievous facial injuries from multiple blows to the head, was knocked off his feet. While he was on the ground, the accused and his unidentified accomplices then proceeded to attack Farrugia, injuring him slightly.

Inspector Trevor Micallef charged Marinkovich with grievously injuring Clayton Grech, attempting to grievously injure Mario Farrugia, slightly injuring Farrugia and his girlfriend, participating in an accidental affray and inciting a brawl with intent to murder or injure the three. He was also charged with breaching the peace.

The magistrate said that the CCTV footage from inside the club left no reasonable doubt as to the role of the accused in the beating. His accomplices, however, were never identified.

Despite Marinkovich's clean police conduct, Magistrate Demicoli held that the serious injuries, together with the fact that he had tried to return to the club to continue the fight, merited a custodial sentence.

She therefore hailed him for 12 months, while placing him under a restraining order.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi appeared for the accused.