Romanian Antonel Dobre, who is standing trial for causing the death of a Sudanese man three years ago, told jurors he was very sorry for what happened but insisted he only wanted to protect his friend when he pushed the man.
Mr Dobre said that on the day of the incident Sudanese Osama Al Shazliay Saleh walked up angrily towards his friend, Radu Rica, sometime after Mr Saleh had elbowed Mr Rica in the nose.
He intervened to push Mr Saleh away from his friend and, Mr Saleh then fell backwards and hit his head.
"I will feel sorry for the rest of my life because I did not know him and I feel sorry for him and his family. I feel sorry for myself also that I am here now and for my family that is suffering as well. I would like to say again that I'm really, really sorry for what has happened.
"I wanted to defend Rica and push him [Mr Saleh] away not to argue... What I did I did because I wanted to help my friend but I am sorry for the way it actually ended," he said.
Mr Dobre, 29, is pleading not guilty to seriously injuring Mr Saleh - 26, known to his friends as Sunshine - in Paceville on March 17, 2012, at about 6am.
The prosecution is claiming that Mr Dobre punched Mr Saleh in the face, causing him to fall, hit his head and suffer brain haemorrhage that led to his death three days later.
This morning Mr Dobre gave jurors his version of the events. He said he had been in Malta for seven months before the incident. He came with his wife to work - his wife worked in a bar and he worked in construction. He knew a few other Romanians who were living in Malta. He met Radu Rica, a fellow Romanian, when they played football together. Like him, Mr Rica had come to Malta with his partner to work.
On the day of the incident they met and went around Paceville then they went into a club and he drank a beer while Mr Rica did not. Then they went out and walked around. They did not meet anyone they knew.
Then they went into another club, Deja Vu. They sat at a table inside and had a drink and spoke. During the evening he told Mr Rica that he was planning a trip to Romania to see his children and family. After some time Mr Rica went to the the toilet.
"He was away for about 10 minutes and, when he returned to the table, he had blood all over and he seemed scared... He had blood on his nose and had a tissue. I asked him what had happened and he told me that a dark-skinned person had hit him," he said adding that he did not remember if Mr Rica pointed the man out to him.
"I suggested that he sit and calm down so the bleeding stops. After about 10 minutes we both left to go home," he said adding that he lived in Swieqi and Mr Rica lived close by.
Mr Rica walked out first and he followed. When they walked up the steps leading out of the club, a dark-skinned person hurried towards them and stopped in front of Mr Rica, where there were about four bouncers.
"He was shouting, trying to fight and creating commotion with the bouncers as well. He was arguing with Rica. He was swearing in English. The bodyguards intervened and I got involved as well," he said.
Mr Rica had his back to the club while the dark-skinned man was facing the club. The bouncers were in between them.
"After seeing that the fight was escalating I intervened as well," he said. He moved from behind Mr Rica closer to the man. "I intervened between them because the dark-skinned person wanted to fight with Rica," he said as he identified himself as the man wearing the scarf seen in the CCTV footage.
He said that Mr Saleh was going to push his friend so he pushed Mr Saleh.
As he described what he did, he said: "With the left hand I pushed him." As he acted out the motion, he explained how he was standing on the left of the man - so his chest was facing the man's left shoulder - and he swung his left arm around and pushed the man - with an open palm - from the face. His right hand never touched the man who fell backwards immediately. He said he did not hit him on the right side of his face.
When he saw that the man did not get up he was scared. "I was scared since I saw him fall, not get up, and roll his eyes," he said. A bouncer tried to assault him and was restrained by another bouncer. "I just left. I was scared," he said.
He was then shown CCTV footage taken by the cameras of Cube that showed him and Mr Rica walk down St Rita's Steps at about 6.45am.
He confirmed that Mr Rica showed him his hands full of blood. "I asked Radu Rica why he had blood on his hands and he said it was the blood that came out of his nose when he was elbowed by the dark-skinned person," he said.
"What I did I did because I wanted to help my friend but I am sorry for the way it actually ended up," he said.
Asked why he had left for Romania later that day he said: "I was scared but also I wanted to see my family because I was missing them. I didn't know the gravity of what happened. Yes I was concerned. If I knew the gravity of the situation I wouldn't have left. I knew something [that a person might have died] but was not sure about it," Mr Dobre recounted.
He did not know the police were looking for him. He wanted to come back to see what had happened, he said adding that he was on his way back to Malta on March 24 but police stopped him at the airport.
He spent two weeks in the lock-up in Romania until someone from Malta went to escort him to Malta on April 2.
Under cross examination he said that, that evening, he drank two beers and five tequilas. He denied calling Mr Saleh towards them outside the club and could not explain why he went towards them.
Asked why he pushed him once there were bouncers he said: "It was an instinct. He's my friend and I wanted to help him." He denied using all his strength and said he was right-handed and could not have used all his strength with his left hand.
In that commotion there was a lot of pushing. I just pushed him. He was taller than me. It was downhill and he lost his balance. Asked if he had anything against dark-skinned people, he said: "never".
"I'm very, very sorry. I'm not a racist and have nothing against dark-skinned people. I have friends who are dark-skinned," he said.
Lawyers Kevin Valletta and Nadia Attard, from the Attorney General's office, are prosecuting.
Lawyer Roberto Montalto is representing Mr Dobre while lawyer Larry Formosa is acting in parte civile.