'Absolute lack of evidence' leads to acquittal in case over Paceville glassing

A court has acquitted a man accused of inflicting grievous injury with a glass bottle after noting an “absolute lack of evidence” in the case.

Refuse collector Mohammed Hasan Abdullahi, 23, from Somalia had been accused of attacking another foreign national with a broken bottle in a fight in Ross Street, Paceville on December 2, 2017

Police officers responding to reports of the incident had found two bloodied men: Abdullahi and another man, being treated by an ambulance team that had arrived before the police.

The police were told how the two men had allegedly been standing at a bus stop when an argument broke out between them, the prosecution had said.

The situation degenerated into fisticuffs and at one point glass bottles were smashed and used as weapons, the witnesses had told police.
The prosecution explained how both men had been taken to hospital, suffering serious injuries.

Inspector Matthew Spagnol had told magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech how, during questioning, the alleged victim had admitted to repeatedly hitting the accused with the broken glass bottle when he realised that he had been struck in the face with it.

The accused had suffered wounds to his hands, head and back, whilst the victim suffered a cut above his mouth.

But the court noted that the victim had then chosen not to testify against the accused and the prosecution had not insisted that he testify, despite it being a case which the police acted ex officio and not on the complaint of the injured party.

This meant that the only testimony in the case, by police officers who were told what happened by the accused or the victim, was inadmissible hearsay.

In view of what it described as the “absolute lack of evidence,” the court found the accused not guilty of the charges and released him.