A bouncer at a Paceville club recalled that a year before an incident that led to the death of a Sudanese man he had witnessed the victim beat up a person for no apparent reason.

Anthony Portelli testified that, in the summer of 2011, he was standing outside Havana, where he worked as a bouncer, when he suddenly heard a loud noise. “I looked and saw a man on the ground. Then I spotted Osama bite his hand and kick him in the face,” the witness said, adding that he was “100 per cent sure” the “Osama” he had seen that night was Sudanese Osama Al Shazliay Saleh, who died following an incident in Paceville the following year.

Mr Portelli was testifying in the trial by jury of Romanian Antonel Dobre, 29, who is pleading not guilty to seriously injuring Mr Saleh – 26, known to his friends as Sunshine – early on March 17, 2012.

The prosecution, conducted by lawyers Kevin Valletta and Nadia Attard from the Attorney General’s office, alleges that Mr Dobre punched Mr Saleh in the face, causing him to fall, hit his head and suffer brain haemorrhage that led to his death three days later.

Then I spotted Osama bite his hand and kick him in the face

Mr Portelli testified that, some years back, he was in court but had to go out because of a bomb threat. While outside he had a conversation with his lawyer, Roberto Montalto, who is appearing for Mr Dobre. They spoke about Mr Dobre’s case and the witness pointed out he did not know the person. Mr Portelli said he told Dr Montalto he had seen Mr Saleh involved in a fight. Sometime later, he continued, he had received a court summons to testify in the case.

Mr Portelli testified before Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi that Mr Saleh was a regular at Havana and had been involved in several arguments. The club had even stopped him from entering the venue for a while to avoid problems.

In the 2011 incident, he said he saw Mr Saleh hit a young man – a certain Darren Borg – biting his hand and kicking him in the head. He said he urged Mr Borg to file a police report but he was scared.

“I wanted Borg to file a report as we had problems with Osama and his friend and we wanted something to be done. We did not like it whenever we saw him and knew something would happen one day,” he said.

Cross-examined by Dr Valletta, Mr Portelli said he had problems with the police in the past.

Mr Borg testified that he and his friend were randomly assaulted by two dark-skinned men at the end of summer 2011. He did not know who they were and would not be able to recognise them, he said.

Answering a question by the prosecution, he insisted he had nothing against dark-skinned people.

Lawyer Larry Formosa is appearing parte civile.