A police inspector and his barber friend were yesterday accused of seriously injuring one of three brothers in an assault in Paceville early on Thursday morning.

Both the officer, 38-year-old Jeffrey Cilia of Balzan and Giuseppi Farrugia, 39, of Għargħur, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Exactly what sparked off the incident is disputed. Mr Cilia claims he was doing his job by stopping the brothers from vandalising plants.

The brothers – Matthew, 28, Alek, 18, and Omar Debono, 21 – insist that they were attacked after Matthew spat on the ground.

The incident, which occurred near the Eden Century cinema, was captured on CCTV and one of the brothers filmed it with his mobile phone.

The accused are pleading not guilty to seriously injuring Matthew, slightly injuring Alek, assaulting all three and breaching the peace.

Mr Cilia is also accused of assaulting Police Sergeant Ramon Mifsud Grech, disobeying orders, swearing and committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.

Criminal lawyer Joseph Giglio, appearing for Mr Cilia, asked in court how an off-duty police inspector could be arraigned over an incident in which he was attacked for doing his job.

He argued that the two men were arraigned because somebody called the press and the story was splashed all over the front pages of newspapers.

Dr Giglio said that PS Mifsud Grech, the first person to speak to the alleged victims, had been caught twice drunk while on duty and reported to his superiors by Mr Cilia.

This was flatly denied by the sergeant who said that police records would show this to be a lie.

Dr Giglio said he expected the alleged victims to be arraigned too because his client was covered in bruises and the injuries were clearly sustained through the aggression of others.

Police Superintendent Dominic Micallef said the investigations were still ongoing and he was not excluding anything with regard to the alleged victims.

He did not oppose bail being granted.

Dr Giglio suggested to Magistrate Audrey Demicoli that there was no need to place his client under strict conditions because, as an officer, he was well aware of the consequences of breaching bail.

He added that there was no need to place him on a curfew or make him sign a bail book.

Mr Micallef asked the court to impose some conditions until the case was heard.

Magistrate Demicoli granted bail to both men against a personal guarantee of €3,000 each and a deposit of €1,000.

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