Updated to specify terms of conviction - A 23-year-old man from Hamrun admitted in court today to having set fire to a bar after assaulting and threatening his partner.

Marius Scerri filed his plea as part of a plea bargaining arrangement before trial by jury. He had been accused of having set fire to Saint's Bar in Mriehel in the early hours of July 8, 2006 after an argument with the mother of his child, Isaura Magri and the bar owner, Roberta Cutajar.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for four years and fined €100 after he pleaded guilty in terms of article 318 of the Criminal Code which deals with arson without the danger of loss of life. A conviction under this article carries a punishment of imprisonment of between two and four years.

During the compilation of evidence, Ms Cutajar said she had been in the bar with her aunt when Mr Scerri walked in and an argument broke out. He ordered her to get out and threatened to kill or maim her. He also threw her on the floor, but then walked out.

He returned a short while later, at about 4 a.m and assaulted her, punching her several times.

The bar owner tried to pull them apart and was herself threatened.

Roberta Cutajar had explained to the court how about an hour after Marius Scerri was ordered out of her bar by security staff she heard an explosion outside and, when she went onto the balcony, she saw him run away from a fire that was spreading up the stairs and into the bar area on the first floor.

She said that while he was in the bar, Scerri had hit his partner. He also started making threats at her when she ordered him out.

Cutajar said during the compilation of evidence that the damage from the fire was estimated at some €40,000.

Another man, Frederick Grech, 24 of Hamrun, is also awaiting trial in connection with the alleged arson.