Soldier boils over in hot dog kiosk argument

A soldier ended up in court today after allegedly punching a hot dog kiosk owner in an argument over permits.

The incident happened on Tuesday evening outside a night club at Ta' Qali.

The soldier, 39-year-old Alexander Camilleri of Gudja, had been helping his partner, who also owns a kiosk.

The argument erupted between them and another vendor, Adrian Sarcia, over a vending spot.

Mr Camilleri pleaded not guilty to having attempted to cause serious injury and committing a crime which he, as a public officer, was duty-bound to prevent.

Defence counsel Joe Giglio and Edward Gatt acknowledged that there was an argument and the victim was injured, but, they insisted, one had to see the context of the argument.

Mr Camilleri and his partner had been setting up their kiosk in that spot for 10 years and the other man did not have permission to be there. There had been a mix-up in the allocation of parking slots, but the issue had now been resolved.

Mr Camilleri was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €1,000.