A local council supervisor was severely beaten yesterday after telling a man not to leave rubbish bags outdoors past the collection time.

Raymond Grima, a St Paul’s Bay waste management supervisor in his 50s, found himself curled up in a ball on a Buġibba pavement as a “furious” resident kicked him senseless for several minutes.

“I just told him that he shouldn’t leave his rubbish outside because the garbage truck had already passed by.

“He asked me what my problem was and, the next thing I knew, he pushed me and began punching and kicking me repeatedly. I don’t understand why you can’t even speak to people in such situations,” he said.

The resident was questioned by the police shortly after the incident.

The assault happened after Mr Grima had spent a morning informing locals not to leave their rubbish outdoors after 10am –garbage collection time – in an effort to clean up the locality.

“Dumping happens all over the town but there are certain hotspots where it gets quite bad. I spoke to a few people in the morning and told them not to leave their rubbish outside. Most of the time people comply even though some can be rude,” he said.

Asked whether he could have provoked or threatened his assailant, Mr Grima said he had introduced himself as a council supervisor and spoke in the same courteous tone he had used with any of the other rubbish-dumpers.

“I did defend myself but, by that time, I was already on the ground getting kicked,” Mr Grima added.

This is the second incident in as many months. Last November, a St Paul’s Bay councillor was threatened and assaulted after telling a resident not to leave rubbish bags outside after collection time.

Mayor Mario Salerno said the incident had happened on the backstreets of Qawra and, at the time, the councillor’s leg was in a cast.

I did defend myself but, by that time, I was already on the ground getting kicked

Asked about the incidents, Mr Salerno said the locality faced a problem with violence that was amplified by a higher incidence of foreigners, criminality and a breakdown in civil order.

A survey last year highlighted the locality as having registered the highest increase in police reports of violence since 2012.

“There are a couple of cowboys who think they are beyond the law. As a council, we don’t tolerate this kind of behaviour and condemn it wholeheartedly,” he said.