Man going out with 15-year-old tells court he did not know how old the girl was

The 30-year-old victim of a protective granddad who allegedly injured the man with a sickle for going out with his 15-year-old granddaughter claimed today he did not know how old the girl was.

John Vassallo, 61, was earlier this month arraigned together with his 25-year-old son Johann, both of Dingli, charged with the attempted murder of Josef Grech, 30, and holding him against his will.

They pleaded not guilty.

The men allegedly hit Mr Grech with a sickle, slightly injuring him in the chest.

Defence lawyer Franco Debono asked the victim if he knew how old the girl, for whom he had planned a surprise party, was. Mr Grech said he did not know her age even though he had planned the party for her.

Testifying, he claimed that he and the girl never had a sexual relationship. Their relationship, he said, was initially condoned by the girl's parents and once he slept at the girl's house and her mother made up a double bed for them.

As Mr Grech made his claim, the grandfather, sitting in the dock, shook his head.

Mr Grech told the court that the girl used to runaway quite often and whenever the police contacted him about her it was always because she had run away from home and they were checking if she was with him.

The girl, he said, had a key to his place in Rabat and she sometimes slept there but not with him or while he was in the house. She used the house when she ran away from home, Mr Grech said.

He claimed that the girl's mother used to flirt with him and that problems between the girl's family and himself started when he and the girl found the mother flirting with another man on facebook.

Mr Grech said that on the day of the incident he received a phone call from the girl's uncle who told him the girl was missing and insisted that she was with him.

He told him she was not and when the uncle continued to insist, Mr Grech said he decided to file a report at the Rabat police station.

He asked a police sergeant for permission to go and look for the girl and then went to look for her near a public garden at Mtarfa.

He said that as he was walking up, he saw the grandfather's van approaching and the mother jumped out and told him to run. The grandfather jumped out after her and started running after him with a sickle.

Mr Grech said he stopped running to try and reason things out. But at one point he fell and the grandfather wrapped a nylon cord around his neck, held him down and told him that he was going to tie him to his truck and drag him.

The uncle also kicked him and the police arrived shortly afterwards.

Dr Debono asked Mr Grech what he understood by a relationship. Mr Grech answered two people who loved each other. He denied ever having sexual relationships with the girl and said that all he wanted was to forgive the accused. He denied telling the family that he wanted to steal the girl from them and that the vice-squad police had ever spoken to him about the relationship he had with the girl.

The Vassallos, who had been remanded in custody, were today granted bail against a deposit of €3,000 each and a personal guarantee of €10,000 each.

The case continues.