A night out with friends ended with a woman in hospital suffering from a broken jaw after she hit a man with a glass, a magistrate heard before giving the man a suspended jail term.

The fight broke out at Bedouin bar, Paceville, in July 2012, where Carmel Zammit, 41, was out with a group of waterpolo players.

Witnesses said Mr Zammit, from Swieqi, saw his ex-girlfriend Doriette Marmará with her friend Lynn Abela.

Another woman, Tanya Caruana, stopped to speak to Mr Zammit and an argument broke out between the three women.

Mr Zammit intervened and told his ex-girlfriend and her friend to shut up, at which point Ms Abela hit him in the face with a glass.

In what Mr Zammit called an instant reaction, he hit Ms Abela in the face. A court expert said Mr Zammit had a cut under his eye.

In their own testimony, however, Ms Abela and Ms Marmará said Mr Zammit walked up to them and suddenly began shouting and swearing at them before hitting them both. They fell to the floor and a security guard arrived. All went to hospital for treatment.

Magistrate Neville Camilleri found Mr Zammit guilty of seriously injuring Ms Abela and slightly injuring Ms Marmará. He sentenced him to three months in jail, suspended for a year.

The magistrate also placed him under a personal guarantee of €1,000 and warned him not to approach the women.