An 18-year-old insisted in court today that he was acting in self defence when he stabbed another man in the abdomen, perforating his liver, during a Gharghur feast activity yesterday afternoon. 

Claudio Galea, from Msida, who works as a cleaner at Mount Carmel Hospital, claimed that he had been surrounded and assaulted by a group of around 20 people. He said someone - who he could identify - tried stabbing him with a penknife but he managed to take it from him and started waving it around, hitting the victim, Claudio Calleja, in the process. 

He denied seriously injuring the man, being in possession of a sharp and pointed instrument without a police licence and with breaching the peace.

Defence lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo said that  their client was at a bar with his girlfriend.

At one point, he saw someone slamming an empty bottle of vodka on a table.

Their client told him to be careful as there were children around him and was approached by a bearded man who told him: "Be quiet, you are not even from Gharghur. Be quiet or I'll spill your guts out." 

He left the bar and all of sudden found himself surrounded by a large group who began hitting him. 

The lawyers said there were all the elements of self defence but his client was willing to plead guilty to the charges "to end the story there".

Police Inspector Sandra Zammit said that given his clean criminal conduct, the prosecution would be happy with a suspended sentence. 

But Magistrate Aaron Bugeja reminded the prosecution and defence that the Law Courts was not the Valletta market, where they could haggle to their heart's content. He said the court would not allow someone plead guilty to a charge "simply as a short cut".  

Given the situation, the defence lawyers changed the plea to not guilty and requested that their client be released on bail. However, Inspector Zammit objected, saying there was the victim and many other civilian witnesses who still had to testify. She said she was also worried as Gharghur was celebrating the feast this weekend. 

The police had not yet spoken to the victim who was unconscious and spent some time at the Intensive Therapy Unit. 

Magistrate Bugeja granted Mr Galea bail against a €500 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee. He also ordered him to be indoors between 10pm and 6am the following morning and to stay away from Gharghur.