Paceville bouncer cleared of grievously injuring young man in 2016 fight

A man has been acquitted of illegally working as a bouncer and grievously injuring a visitor to Paceville in 2016 after a court ruled the evidence against him as “inadequate and scant.”

Micun Radulovic from Serbia had been charged after a fight at entertainment establishment Bacco’s on March 28, 2016 in which Terence Zahra suffered a broken nose.

Zahra had filed a police report claiming to have been attacked and beaten up by the accused and four other security guards outside the establishment. He claimed to have sustained grievous injuries to his face as a result.

Inspector Matthew Spagnol testified that on the 28 March 2016, a report was received regarding a quarrel that had taken place the previous night in St. Rita Steps, Paceville in which Zahra was injured. CCTV footage in the area were retrieved by the Police from the establishment which is directly opposite the place where the fight unfolded.

Spagnol said the police had identified two of the four bouncers believed to have been involved in the incident, all of whom were foreign individuals. He said that on 28 December 2016 were arrested and when during Radulovic’s interrogation, he was shown footage retrieved from CCTV cameras in the area, he had identified himself.  

The victim said that he has seen his friend involved in a quarrel and was fighting and arguing with one of the bouncers. His other friends had been told to leave the premises by other bouncers, he said.

When he stepped out of the establishment to see what was happening, he saw his friends arguing with the security staff and had gone over to try and diffuse the situation. He said that at this point, one, of the bouncers approached him and asked him in Maltese if he was going to push him, and although at this point he had not pushed anyone, the bouncer punched him in the face.

The witness claimed to be uncertain whether it was the accused who punched him first, saying that the accused “could have been present”.

“I know that after I was punched in the face two other bouncers came and started hitting me in my side and kicking me. Then I know that there was a fourth bouncer who came out of the premises and hit me in my side with his legs. At that moment in time I tried to cover my face to defend myself. The second, third and fourth bouncer who effectively hit me were not speaking so I cannot say what their nationality was, they were just hitting me,” he said.

The accused did not testify but had released a statement when he was interrogated by the Police where, although he confirmed his presence in the footage shown to him during the interrogation, he denied having caused any injuries to any person.

Radulovic insisted that he did not use any force on the alleged victim and would not use force on young persons.

He explained that there had been a fight in the balcony of Bacco’s and that he had tried to push some Maltese persons out of Bacco’s without fighting, but once outside these persons began to fight again and there was confusion. He also confirmed that there were another two persons apart from himself working as security officers at that time, who removed the Maltese persons from the establishment, as well as other persons from other bars.

The court observed from the outset that no witness was brought to confirm that the CCTV and mobile phone footage was actually taken from the establishments in question, nor who took the footage into evidence.

This besides the fact that neither the accused nor Zahra were identifiable in the footage, said the court. “Moreover, contrary to what was stated by Inspector Matthew Spagnol in his testimony, it does not result from the accused’s statement that he actually identified himself as the person who is shown to be punching and kicking in the said footage.”

Magistrate Rachel Montebello also noted that the victim’s friends were never summoned to testify and that the victim had failed to identify the accused as the person who punched him or indeed to his having been present during the incident.

The court pointed out that the accused does not speak Maltese but the victim had been spoken to in Maltese by the bouncer who punched him in the face.

In the light of all this, the court said the evidence brought by the prosecution was “inadequate and scant” and that it was impossible to reach the conclusion that the accused had participated in the scuffle involving Zahra, “let alone to be morally convinced that it was the accused who actually caused the injuries.”

With regards to the charge of acting as a private guard without the necessary licence, the court pointed out that the prosecution “brought absolutely no evidence to sustain the charge."

Radulovic was cleared of all charges