A Paceville bouncer pleading not guilty to causing the death of an immigrant denied he was racist, as the police questioned him over an incident in which he pushed the victim out of a club causing him to slam into the ground.
The victim, Suleiman Ismail Abubaker, 28, from Darfur, suffered a fractured skull and lung contusions, going into a coma and dying a few days later.
Witnesses claimed to have seen his alleged attacker, Duncan Deguara, 32, from Paola, punch and push the victim before he hit the ground.
At the start of the trial by jury of Mr Deguara yesterday, jurors heard how Mr Abubaker had tried to get into Footloose night club when the accused stopped him on May 29, 2009 at around 3.30 a.m.
Mr Deguara claimed the victim insisted he be let in but because he was drunk and considering that he had been involved in a previous incident, he decided to stop him.
In a police statement, Mr Deguara said that when drunken people turned up at the club it was policy to bar them entrance. This policy, which also included a dress code, applied to absolutely everyone regardless of colour or nationality.
According to the bouncer, Mr Abubaker insisted that he be allowed into the club but then gave up. Mr Deguara went to the toilet and on returning to his post found the victim drinking at the bar. He escorted him out.
Mr Deguara said Mr Abubaker then hit him with a bottle and he reacted by pushing him out through the door. Mr Abubaker fell and hit his head to the ground where he remained for a few minutes.
Witnesses said the victim then got up, stumbled over a street sign and two Frenchmen helped him down to what used to be Axis nightclub where he fell unconscious.
Taking the witness stand, Police Superintendent Martin Sammut said stills taken from CCTV cameras that captured the commotion were not clear enough to make out the identity of the people involved and what exactly happened.
The two Frenchmen who claimed to have witnessed the incident told him that not only did the accused push the victim but also punched him in the face before he fell backwards on the floor face up.
The two men said they had met the victim in Paceville before and shared drinks with him. On the night of the incident, they met him again inside Plush club just up the road from Footloose and had noticed that he was “happy”, meaning tipsy, the officer said.
They left that bar and walked down together to where Mr Degaura worked. The victim was in tow when he tried to get into Footloose and was punched and pushed to the ground, they told the police. They said they helped him down the road.
Under cross examination by lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, Superintendent Sammut said Mr Abubaker had previously been given a suspended jail term for violence against the police. He had investigated a case where he had caused some €200 damage to a police van and had been so violent at one point that he managed to twist his handcuffs.
Following that incident Mr Abubaker had claimed the police beat him up along with a friend of his. Four police officers were suspended, and one arraigned, but the case fell through because of lack of evidence.
The case continues.