Man who started fight kicked sailor on stretcher - police

The man who started a bar brawl that led to a Filipino sailor's death kicked the victim as he lay defenceless on a stretcher, two police officers told a trial by jury yesterday.

PC Mario Galea and PC David Sciberras were testifying in the trial of Charles Demicoli, 34, who is pleading not guilty to murdering the sailor, 44-year-old Perfecto Montalban in 2000 in Cherries Bar, Birżebbuġa.

The officers said Noel Falzon, known as Il-Ġgant (the giant), and who had been identified on Monday as the man who started the fight, had kicked the stretcher with the injured Filipino on it as he was taken away. The sailor's head had been smashed by a bar stool during the fight and at that point he was only semi-conscious.

Mr Falzon had pinned the blame on the Filipino, saying he had ended up in a state because he was drunk and had taken drugs, the officers said. The man was aggressive and swearing at people around him even as the Filipino was being taken away, PC Galea said.

The two officers were the first on the scene and said that when they got there the sailor was already lying on the road, face down. He was surrounded by a "considerable amount" of broken glass and a group of people.

PC Galea said he pulled one man aside, a certain Michel who was the bar owner, and asked him what happened. He told him the sailor had fallen down the stairs.

Later, the bar owner propped up the sailor against the wall and the ambulance was called.

The first medic to see Mr Montalban, Lucienne Attard, said: "He was restless, he was not responding to questions or orders and this is a sign of a severe head injury". He had blood coming out of his ears and nose and had two black eyes.

The victim's skull in fact was fractured in various parts, neurologist Anthony Zrinzo testified. The fractures were at different points.

The injuries, Dr Zrinzo said, were compatible with a fall down a flight of steps, also suggesting that they could have been the result of more than one blow.

A small, lightly coloured wooden square stool, which was produced as an exhibit in court yesterday, had a tiny amount of blood on it.

Arrests were made a day after the fight but Police Superintendent Carmel Bartolo, who admitted under cross examination that the scene of the crime had not been sealed, said bar staff had washed down the place by that time.

The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, lawyer Anthony Barbara, prosecuted.

Lawyers Gianella Caruana Curran and Emanuel Mallia appeared for the accused.

The case continues.