Stabbing victim Nicholas Gera entered a St Julians bar “already livid” about 90 minutes before he ended up in a fatal fight in the penthouse of Duncan Zammit, the second victim of the New Year’s Day tragedy.

Smashing the glass on the floor was not normal behaviour

According to an eyewitness, who preferred to remain anonymous, Mr Gera arrived at Muddy Waters at about 4.45 a.m., appearing to be “worked up”, and smashed a glass on the floor.

It was a harmless, run-of-the-mill scenario for New Year’s Eve in a bar in the early hours of the morning. Although it seemed he was looking for trouble, no fight erupted and the patron would “not have thought much of it”.

But, in hindsight, given the circumstances in which Mr Gera was found by the police at about 7.15 a.m. in the Sliema penthouse, the witness believed his state of mind at the bar was relevant to investigators.

Feeling it was his duty, he decided to tell the police what had happened shortly before Mr Gera slipped into Falcon House in High Street, Sliema, and ended up with over 10 stab wounds and cuts while nearly 30 were inflicted on Mr Zammit, who was sleeping by his wife and twin babies.

“Smashing the glass on the floor was not normal behaviour,” the witness said, adding that those who knew Mr Gera said what he did was “out of character” and “not like him”.

Mr Gera, who frequented the St Julians bar, did not appear to be drunk. He looked “infuriated” but his anger was not sparked by any incident in the bar, the witness maintained.

“He smashed the glass at my feet – not at me – and I tried to calm him down. I said: ‘Take it easy, brother. Have a good beginning.’ I used the usual jargon to appease him and I put my arm around him but he did not shake my hand. He kept his fingers wide open.”

Minutes later, the barmen escorted a drunken guy outside. The patron went along to assist and eye contact was established between him and Mr Gera.

In the commotion, Mr Gera went towards him and the patron kicked him to keep him away. He was made to leave the bar and it was “end of story” … or so he thought.

“Things could have got nasty if he hanged around longer. That is why I helped throw him out.”

At that point, the doors were closed and only about 20 persons were still inside, so the witness said he could observe what was going on.

He is convinced Mr Gera, whom he had never seen before, arrived enraged and that it was important to establish the “missing link”, that is, what had happened before he got to the bar and why he was so frenzied.

He was supposed to have finished work at Shivas, an Indian restaurant in Paceville, at about 2.30 p.m., leaving an unexplained gap both between the time he left the restaurant and got to the bar and from the time he was kicked out of Muddy Waters and the murder.