The main witness in the trial by jury of a man accused of trying to kill a good friend yesterday told jurors he didn’t think the accused meant to kill his friend during an argument.

Stephen Falzon, also known as L-Inġliż, took the witness stand in the trial of Marco Vella, 42, also known as Il-Ħabsi, of Birkirkara, who stands charged with the attempted murder of Raymond Farrugia in August 2003.

Mr Falzon said the whole argument began in the Balzan Labour Party club after he tried to point out to Mr Vella that he was wrong to expect free drinks from his friend who owned a bar in Lija, referring to an incident which had happened a few days earlier.

The argument became heated and the accused challenged him to a fight outside the bar. He accepted so as not to be humiliated in front of everyone in the bar.

Mr Farrugia tried to break up the fight and got between them. He pushed Mr Vella with such force that he fell to the ground, Mr Falzon said. Mr Vella then got up and attacked Mr Farrugia, at which point the witness saw a lot of blood.

During cross examination, defence lawyer Marion Camilleri referred to Mr Falzon’s previous testimony given to the inquiring magistrate a few hours after the incident in which he said that the victim had actually punched Mr Vella.

At this point the witness became visibly confused and with an air of indifference said punching and pushing were almost the same thing. Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano asked him to be specific and, using his books on the bench, explained what pushing and punching meant.

The witness then said it was more like a pushing motion.

Taking the witness stand, Mr Farrugia said that on the night of the stabbing he had gone to the bar and as he walked in he noticed that the two men were arguing. As it got out of hand the barman threw everyone out and the argument carried on outside.

He said he jumped in and lightly pushed Mr Vella away. As he turned around, he felt a burning pain in his back. He could not remember being stabbed any other time except that once.

He also confirmed he told the doctor at the polyclinic that he had fallen on some glass because he didn’t want Mr Vella, a childhood friend, to get into any trouble.

Forensic pathologist Mario Scerri said the victim sustained a stab wound to his right side and the injury was not life threatening. However, medical doctor Alex Magri, who had seen the victim first, said as he was stitching him up air escaped through the stab wound.

He then sent him to hospital as he suspected that he had a puncture wound but Dr Scerri said he found no evidence of this.