Grocer Carmel Testa.

An elderly grocer who was assaulted by a man wielding a knife has called for better protection after his attacker returned the following day to a bar next to the man’s shop.

Carmel Testa, 68, was attacked as he closed the shutter of his Floriana grocery shop last Tuesday.

Mr Testa, who was cut behind his left ear and left arm, immediately filed a report and informed police that his aggressor was a man who regularly frequented the bar next door.

However, he was flabbergasted to see the man back at the bar the following day, acting “as though nothing happened”.

“He did not speak to me but this should not be allowed,” he said, stressing that there should be better structures in place to protect victims of crime – even before a case is decided in court.

Mr Testa added that the police informed him that they had called the man in for questioning and would be charging him in court by summons. However, since Mr Testa’s injuries were not considered to be serious, the man was not arrested and police could not stop him from going to the bar.

Mr Testa said this state of affairs is unfair on victims.

While I was closing the shutter, he came up from behind and attacked me with a knife

“My family are worried about me,” he said, as he served a string of customers, many of them regulars.

Mr Testa has been running the grocery store for three decades.

A year ago, he had told the man who attacked him not to set foot inside his shop since he always caused trouble.

Throughout this time he often saw the man at the bar. Then, on Tuesday, soon after he reopened for afternoon business, the man walked in hurling insults at him, Mr Testa said.

“At one point I had enough so I told him to get out of the shop. I then decided to file a police report.

“While I was closing the shutter, he came up from behind and attacked me with a knife,” he said adding that, thankfully, the man ran off before seriously injuring him.

Questions sent to the police remained unanswered at the time of publication.