Couple attacked in Paceville ‘for no apparent reason’

A 30-year-old woman and her partner claim they were beaten up in Paceville last weekend in a seemingly unprovoked attack, which is being investigated by the police.

The incident happened early on Sunday morning during a night out: “My partner was waiting for his pizza at a shop outside Havana at about 3.30 a.m. when three men unknown to us walked up to him and started beating him up,” a shocked Anne Marie Coppola said.

She intervened and one of the men turned on her and threw her to the ground. Completely confused, Ms Coppola and her French partner, who prefers to remain unnamed, somehow put themselves together, visibly shaken by what had just happened.

“My hands and legs were covered in blood and my boyfriend hurt his head,” Ms Coppola said, adding that when they walked away they came across the same gang of men in front of Plush.

“I walked up to the man who beat me. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea but I wanted to know why they had picked on us,” she continued. When Ms Coppola asked him what they had done wrong, he punched her in the face and she fell to the ground. “I remember blanking out for a second and seeing three girls when I opened my eyes who told me they saw what had happened and called the police.”

She said they waited for the police for over half an hour but when they did not turn up she and her partner made their way to the St Julians police station.

When they got there, four officers on duty told them they could not file a report unless they first went to the health centre and got a medical report. Ms Coppola said she was too tired and traumatised to go to the health centre and, so, just went home.

“It doesn’t make sense they didn’t want to know more while everything was still fresh in my mind or when these men were likely to be still roaming the streets,” Ms Coppola said.

With a bruised hip, grazed elbows and knees and a slightly swollen cheek, Ms Coppola returned to the police station later that morning, where she was allowed to file her report but only, she said, after mentioning that she had given the story to The Times. She was advised to go to the health centre again after the report was made.

The police, she said, told her they would look at the surveillance cameras in the area to try and identify the gang members.

Ms Coppola could not understand the assault: “I keep playing the scene over and over in my head to find a reason why they picked on us but I can’t put my finger on anything.” She wondered whether it was because her partner is French, saying a friend of his of the same nationality claimed he had been beaten up sometime the previous week by a gang of eight men who were also unknown to him. At the time, her partner told his friend it was hard to believe it happened unprovoked... only to be beaten up himself 24 hours later for no apparent reason.

“That night, I kept waking up and thinking it was a dream but every time I turned over in bed or tried to open my mouth, my jaw hurt and my hip ached,” she continued.

“Seeing someone you love being beaten up for nothing is the worst thing that can happen. I can’t be silent about it. I have a young daughter and wouldn’t like her to be brought up in a society like this,” she said.

When contacted, the police confirmed that a report had been filed on October 3 but were unable to confirm the time. They said a medical report was needed in such cases but could not comment on why Ms Coppola’s report was not filed immediately as they had no evidence of this. They said the alleged assault was being investigated.