A man was yesterday charged with breaching bail conditions after he allegedly swore at an important witness in an arson case against him during a heated argument last month.

Jonathan Grech, 29, of St Paul’s Bay, was arraigned in September and charged with burning down a boat, the Comino Princess, on September 8, 2000 and, together with his father George Grech, 60, he was accused of being accomplices in the burning of another boat, the Mermaid, in 2007.

He pleaded not guilty.

Police Inspector Anthony Portelli testified that, on June 19, the accused, a tourist boat operator, had an argument with Paul Zammit, another operator, over who should board passengers first.

On the morning in question, Mr Grech had arrived first at a jetty in Mellieħa and was ready to let tourists board when Mr Zammit turned up and was involved in an argument with Mr Grech’s father.

The accused intervened and tried to jump onto Mr Zammit’s boat but was stopped by his father who grabbed him by the shorts. He almost fell into the water and as he regained his footing, he allegedly swore at Mr Zammit and told him he would not succeed in sending him to prison. He also said: “Now we shall see who does not care”, the prosecuting officer testified.

Mr Portelli said that Mr Zammit was an important witness in the arson case and when the accused was granted bail in September he was ordered not to speak to any witnesses.

Defence lawyer Emmanuel Mallia told the court the police did not quite understand that particular bail condition because the court could only order the accused not to speak to a witness specifically on the case in question. This, he said, was backed up by rulings of the superior courts.

He requested bail pending judgment on Monday but the prosecution objected saying there was the risk the accused might contact other witnesses in this case. Dr Mallia quickly noted that the alleged crime happened on June 19 and, yet, his client was arraigned days later, so if there was any threat of witnesses being contacted his client would have done so by now.

Newly-appointed Magistrate Neville Camilleri, presiding over the first arraignment, granted Mr Grech bail against a personal guarantee of €10,000.