A man was poked in the eye by a broomstick when he looked through a hole he had accidentally drilled in the wall of an adjacent washroom.

The curious case, which occurred on July 1, 2009, at about 8.25pm, ended up in court after Lawrence Ciantar went to the police accusing his sister’s neighbour – Michael Patrick O’Meare – of causing serious injuries to his eye.

Mr Ciantar told the police that, while drilling a hole in the wall of his sister’s washroom in Vittoriosa, he miscalculated and penetrated the wall right through. He looked through the hole and shouted “hello”. He said he spotted Mr O’Meare walking past.

He said he looked through the whole again and, at that point, Mr O’Meara pushed the broomstick through, poking him in the eye.

Mr O’Meara denied intentionally injuring Mr Ciantar. He said that when he noticed the hole he decided to push through it a plastic handle he had found on his property some days before and which he assumed belonged to his neighbour.

Mr Ciantar said the accused tried to downplay the incident by saying that he did not sustain any serious injuries but only had a little blood on his face.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said that she was faced with two conflicting versions but found the accused to be more credible, thus acquitting him of causing serious injury.

Lawyer Giannella de Marco appeared for Mr O’Meara.