Two charged with assaulting surgeon

Two brothers were yesterday charged with assaulting and slightly injuring surgeon Alex Manché at St Luke's Hospital on Friday after he told one of them to stop smoking.

Carmelo Micallef, 52, of Floriana and his brother Louis Micallef, 58, of Luqa pleaded not guilty to threatening, assaulting and injuring the surgeon and breaching the peace at St Luke's at about 2.40 p.m.

Louis Micallef alone was charged with smoking at the hospital where smoking is prohibited.

Lawyer José Herrera, for the brothers, told Magistrate Abigail Lofaro that the incident happened soon after the Micallef brothers were informed that their mother had passed away.

In a state of distress, Louis Micallef lit a cigarette and when Mr Manché intervened to tell him to put it out, as he had the right to do, he was pushed away.

The lawyer added that his clients did not know that Mr Manchè was a surgeon and called on the court to appreciate that they had been through "a very horrible experience as, the day their mother died, they were arrested".

The brothers were granted bail on condition they do not leave home. They were bound by a personal guarantee of Lm1,000 each.

Police Inspector Mario Tonna prosecuted.