Updated. First uploaded yesterday at 1.24pm - The victim of a road rage attack caught on video has forgiven his assailant and wants to sit down with him “over a cup of tea”.

“Of course, I don’t think what happened was right. Who wants to get beaten when driving your car? But I forgive him for what he did and I wish we could just sit down and have a chat over tea and speak eye to eye, like men,” Mario Vella, 61, told the Times of Malta.

He spoke a few hours after a video, recorded by this newspaper, captured the moment a furious motorist stormed out of his BMW X6 and assaulted him with
what appeared to be a tool he got from his trunk in a fit of road rage.

The attack, which followed a heated verbal exchange as the two drove side by side along the Birkirkara bypass, only lasted a few seconds, as a third motorist
got out of his car and intervened.

Of course, I don’t think what happened was right. Who wants to get beaten when driving your car? But I forgive him for what he did and I wish we could just sit down and have a chat ...

Mr Vella, a handyman and avid regatta rower sustained minor injuries to the head and arm after he was hit by his attacker.

He admitted he was mostly concerned about hurting his hands. “I work with my hands but also I row. I’m one of the best and I even teach younger rowers, so I didn’t want any injuries to my hands.”

Mr Vella said it all started when his assailant blocked him near Mater Dei Hospital. “He stopped in front of me and I called him an idiot and an animal. Then he kept threatening me as we drove off, so I told him I wasn’t afraid of him even though he was quite a larger man than I am,” he said.

Mr Vella said he had just been informed the driver who attacked him had been visiting an ill family member at hospital.

“These things affect people differently and I know how it can throw you off
balance,” he said.

Contacted by the Times of Malta, the attacker, Mario Muscat, was unapologetic about the incident.

In his version of events, it was Mr Vella who had threatened him and hurled verbal abuse at him for several minutes before he finally snapped.

I don’t know how anyone else would react if they were being sworn at, having their family offended and being threatened. I reacted that way,

“I don’t know how anyone else would react if they were being sworn at, having their family offended and being threatened. I reacted that way,” Mr Muscat said.

In the video, the two parked cars can be seen holding up traffic, including an ambulance.

The police are investigating the incident after a report was filed by Mr Vella who also produced a medical certificate.