French youth 'suffers violent racist attack' by Paceville bouncers

A 21-year-old Frenchman has filed a police report against four bouncers of a Paceville nightclub who he claimed violently attacked him because of his dark skin.

Kevin Prince Argelier told MaltaToday that he also filed a report against a man, Gabriel Busuttil, who punched his Maltese girlfriend in the face right afterhe had passed a racist comment.

Writing on the Facebook group ‘Are You Being Served’, Argelier claims that the incident started at the Havana club last Saturday when Gabriel Busuttil asked his girlfriend “what on earth she is doing with a black n*****”.

“She answered him back and asked him to excuse himself and it was then when he punched her in her face and threw her to the ground,” he wrote. “As I immediately jumped in to protect my ‘white’ Maltese girlfriend, a brawl started.”

He said that four bouncers – two of whom he identified as Omar Bonello and Joseph Carabott – dragged him from his shirt and out of the nightclub.

“I never even lifted a finger or fought back, and witnesses who saw this can prove it,” he wrote. “As they manhandled me down the stairs, I asked them to get my girlfriend because the man who had hit her was still inside. Joseph Carabott’s response was one massive punch.

“Another bouncer grabbed me and forced me face down on the filthy pave walk of Paceville. Meanwhile, with each punch and kick, the bouncers passed racist comments such as “Go back to Africa, faggot” and “Don’t come back again, you piece of black shit”.

“My girlfriend managed to get out of the club and ran to defend me but Omar Bonello, the bouncer who kept beating me up on the floor told her not to bring this piece of black shit into the club again.

“Meanwhile Andrew Gauci, a friend of the racist who started all this, also came out to fight me and call me ‘pufta’ and ‘hmieg ta’ iswed li int’.

“At that moment, the words and feelings of injustice hurt a thousand times more than the physical pain I endured.”

Argelier questioned what is being done to tackle racism in Malta.

“Some people tell me that it’s the way it is here in Malta, to get used to it or leave, but the truth is that we never get used to hatred and discrimination. We just learn to control ourselves when we encounter these situations.”

Right of reply in accordance with the Press Act

Our client Gabriel Busuttil, hereby declares that with reference to the article by your correspondent Tim Diacono (26 February, 2016) for which MaltaToday is legally responsible, that he is categorically denying that the facts as outlined by this Kevin Prine Argelier and as reported by your good selves do not in any way conform to the truth as to what actually occurred.

Our client refutes the allegation that he punched anyone let alone the so called ‘Maltese girlfriend’ of 21-year-old foreigner; and the baseless allegations he is making throw a negative light on the honour and repute of our client who is a committed multicultural idealist, apart from being in the final stages of him becoming a captain in the aviation industry, in accordance with international regulations and Maltese laws and rules regulating the aviation industry.

Our client insists he never addressed this foreigner’s so called ‘Maltese girlfriend’ (whose name has conveniently not been published) with the phrase: “what on earth she is doing with a black nigger?”

He denies having passed any racist comment. Equally it is not true that this ‘Maltese girlfriend’ ever asked Mr Busuttil for an apology because there was no reason for any apology to be given; for the same reason there was no punching in the face of this ‘Maltese girlfriend’ which you are cordially being requested to publish her name as you did in the case of our client.

Your erroneous facts are built on the anonymity of this ‘Maltese girlfriend’ and Mr Busuttil is not interested as to why this Argelier is in our country or not, as everyone is welcome in our country as long as they abide with Maltese law and EU legislation. 

He is reserving all rights in accordance with the law.

Dr Emmy D. Bezzina,
Valletta

Right of reply in accordance with the Press Act

Reference is made to the article of 26 February, 2016 (“French youth ‘suffers violent and racist attack’ by Paceville bouncers”).

My clients – Joseph Carabott and Omar Bonello, are categorically denying the allegations being made against them therein.

For the sake of clarity, the incident started inside the establishment in question and it involved Kevin Prince Argelier and another man. The security personnel intervened promptly, as is their duty, to separate the two men and to control the situation. They asked both men involved in the scuffle to leave the premises, however Kevin Prince Argelier remained very agitated and was refusing to leave the premises as requested.

At that moment Joseph Carabott was positioned next to one of the main entrances of the establishment. Through his earpiece, Carabott received his colleagues’ request for assistance and so proceeded upstairs to assist his colleagues. Once there, Carabott and another security guard were asked by their colleagues to escort Kevin Prince Argelier out of the premises as the latter was still refusing to leave. However, Argelier kept resisting and insisting that he did not want to leave, so much so that the two security staff were having trouble controlling him.

At one moment Argelier even grasped the railings of the staircase tightly and would not let go. Thus, a third security guard, Omar Bonello, had to assist his colleagues in escorting Argelier down the stairs and out of the premises. Eventually Argelier was escorted outside and he was immediately handed over to the executive police officers on duty who by then were already outside of the mentioned establishment.

The events as reported in your article raise many doubts as to Argelier’s credibility and as to the exact details of what occurred on that night. For the time being, suffice it to say that Argelier was very economical with the truth, apart from the fact that his version of events is somewhat biased as throughout all the article he points the blame at all and sundry, except, of course – himself.

The very nature of my clients’ occupation requires them to stop any fight or scuffle which might, and inevitably, does, break out inside the establishment and to get all those involved out of the premises – irrespectively of their skin colour. The main priority is to defuse an argument quickly and to protect the other patrons. In reality, Argelier was not treated “differently” but rather, he reacted “differently” by becoming increasingly violent and resisting at all costs being removed from the premises.

Carabott and Bonello are denying in the most absolute manner the serious allegations made against them to the effect that they repeatedly punched and kicked Argelier since, as stated above, once out of the establishment Argelier was immediately handed over to the police officers.

Finally, my clients are also denying in the most absolute manner that they ever used any of the racially-motivated slur reported in your article against Argelier and if such derogatory terms were in fact used to address Argelier, they were most definitely not used by Carabott or Bonello. In this regard my clients are reserving every right at law and are considering the best course of action to address the serious accusations levelled against them by Kevin Prince Argelier.

Dr Francois Dalli,

Valletta