A frail grandmother, wearing sunglasses to hide her two black eyes and a straw hat to cover up a large hairless patch, described how her alcoholic grandson beat her up after a night out in Paceville.

Emanuela Parsons, 60, of Floriana, gave a detailed account of what allegedly happened last Sunday at 5 a.m. after being helped from the public gallery to a chair near the witness stand, to testify in front of Magistrate Edwina Grima.

“The minute I opened the door for him, I realised from his voice that he was drunk and he started slapping me and punching me,” she said in a soft but steady voice.

Her grandson, Nigel Zammit, 24, sat in the dock staring impassively ahead but got emotional as his grandmother showed the extent of her injuries.

Ms Parsons, trembling, took off her shades to reveal two black eyes, a bruise on her chin and stitches under her nose.

She then lifted her hat to reveal a scalp with severe hairless patches. “I honestly don’t remember that he pulled my hair. When the police came over, however, it was the first thing they asked me.”

She had bruises all over her body. “I tried to get away but he kept chasing me. I think I even tripped at one point,” she said.

Police Inspector Kylie Borg testified that in a police statement the accused had admitted to beating her after drinking at least a bottle and a half of vodka.

Quoting from the document, Inspector Borg said he told her “he started shouting and beating her violently without giving her a chance to defend herself”.

He had no idea how he got back home but he noticed he was barefoot.

He only came to his senses when he heard the police knock on the door. “Only then did he seem to see his grandmother on an armchair, trembling.”

Ms Parsons said she had no idea who called the police. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance and was now staying with her son, Mr Zammit’s uncle, and his wife.

She added that before her grandson went out on Saturday at about 10 p.m. she had advised him not to drink. “He has an alcohol problem.”

She explained that her grandson had been living with her for the past four years. He was thrown out of his home because he drinks. He was not in possession of a house key because of his drinking and his grandmother always waited up for him.

She said they normally got on well – “we even watch television together” – but when he was drunk he was another person altogether.

“The first six months he started living with me, he was clean, but then the problem started again,” she said, adding that over the past years she had been taking him to and from government agency Sedqa.

He had started the programme several times, she said, but failed to complete it. “He needs help,” she said softly.

Mr Zammit, who allegedly committed the offence during the term of a suspended sentence, pleaded not guilty to seriously injuring his grandmother. The case continues.

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