A 79-year-old man was sentenced to six months in jail suspended for two years after pleading guilty to stabbing a supermarket employee in Victoria in November 2013.

Antonio Borg, from Żebbuġ, Gozo, pleaded guilty to stabbing Josef Galea, 29, who had intervened when Mr Borg was arguing with the manager of The Duke Shopping Mall. The manager had stopped the elderly man from going into the mall on November 25, 2013, because he was carrying bags. It was the second time in a week that this had happened.

Bloodstains on the road to the police station.

Magistrate Joseph Mifsud heard that Mr Borg was “lonely” and had no one to look after him because all his relatives had emigrated to Australia.

A week prior to the stabbing, the police had been called to the shopping complex after Mr Borg became aggressive on being told he was not allowed into the supermarket while carrying a bag as a precaution against shoplifting.

The police warned Mr Borg not to return to The Duke. But he did return and the supermarket owner immediately recognised him. He reminded Mr Borg he was not allowed inside and that he had been warned by the police to stay away.

An argument ensued and, when Mr Galea tried to calm things down, he was slashed in the arm with a knife. He rushed out of the complex holding his bleeding arm and raced up the road towards the police station, leaving blood spatters along his path.

Mr Borg pleaded guilty to seriously injuring Mr Galea, assaulting him and manager Walter Michael Farrugia, threatening them, causing them to fear that violence will be used against them, breaching the peace and being in possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.

Mr Borg was accommodated in the long-stay ward at the Gozo General Hospital because he had no one to look after him.

Defence counsel Joe Ellis said that his client was sorry for what he had done and had apologised.

Magistrate Mifsud, however, said it was unacceptable for someone to settle an argument by stabbing another person, adding that the court could not tolerate situations where people took the law into their own hands, turning the country into a jungle.

While highlighting the suffering of elderly people who lived alone, with no one to turn to or keep them company, he opted for a suspended jail term, considering the nature of the charges, Mr Borg’s admission of guilt and his special circumstances.