Judge warns stabbing victim to tell the truth

One of the alleged victims of Anthony Bartolo, who is standing trial over the attempted murder of two men, was yesterday warned by the presiding judge that he should either speak the truth or be jailed.

Testifying, Pierre Micallef told jurors he was stabbed in the hand by someone he did not know during a massive fight that had broken out in front of the then Bamboo night club, Paceville in August of 2004.

Mr Micallef at first gave a sketchy account of the events but when Mr Justice Joe Galea Debono warned him that if he does not tell the truth he would end up in custody, the witness agreed to give the full account of what happened that evening.

He recalled how a brawl, which had started inside the night club, had escalated to a free for all outdoors when bouncers threw the fighting mob out into the street.

He admitted to holding Mr Bartolo by the arms while his friends punched and kicked him, adding that he was about to bite him in the back when he felt a sharp pain in his hand. But, he said he did not know who had stabbed him.

A friend of the accused said that while the fight ensued he saw another man looking and shouting at Mr Bartolo "like a fighting cock" ready to pounce.

When he saw this, another witness, Omar Micallef, tried to calm the situation but the man's friends told him not to get involved and started beating him too.

He fell to the ground and lost consciousness. Waking up, he found himself in front of the Vivaldi Hotel unable to see because of the blood streaming into his eyes.

Darryl Borg, another alleged victim of Mr Bartolo, said that on that evening he had consumed 15 bottles of Budweiser with vodka. He was stabbed and had a muscle in his neck severed but he did not feel the pain immediately.

Clint Mangion had a similar story to tell. While outside the club he was about to meet a girl at another hot spot and was doing his hair while looking into a mirrored doorway.

All of the sudden he felt someone hit him in the neck but did not realise he had been seriously injured until the security personnel of the Vivaldi Hotel told him that blood was seeping down his shirt.

The jurors are expected to retire to deliberate today.

The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, lawyer Anthony Barbara, prosecuted. Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Robert Abela were defence counsel.