Two university students were yesterday charged with the attempted murder of a man when they allegedly beat him up and fractured his skull in Paceville this week.

Mark Meli, 19, of Swieqi and Karl Ebejer, 20, of St Julians were arraigned under arrest and charged with trying to kill Mark Bencini, a lawyer, and seriously injuring him on the head on Thursday at 1 a.m.

The two young men nervously fiddled with their hands as they pleaded not guilty. They also pleaded not guilty to slightly injuring another man, Karl Muscat. Magistrate Michael Mallia granted them bail on condition they do not leave their homes without court permission. They were bound by a Lm1,000 deposit and a personal guarantee to the same amount.

Police Inspector Carlo Ellul prosecuted.

Lawyers Emmanuel Mallia and Giannella Caruana Curran were defence counsel.

Lawyers Leon Bencini, Michael Sciriha and Ian Farrugia appeared in parte civile.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.