Jurors cleared a Somali of trying to kill a fellow countryman but found him guilty of seriously injuring him when he stabbed him with a screwdriver.

He was jailed for five years.

The all-male panel heard on Monday how the weapon was driven so deeply it punctured the victim’s diaphragm and liver.

In a statement to the police, victim Aboker Duale Mustafa said he was in tent 17 at Ħal Far with Hassan Mohammed Fu’ Aad and Abdi Hayd Ibrahim, when he was attacked by 20-year-old Abdirahman Ahmed Mahmud on July 8, 2008.

Mr Mahmud was also found guilty of illegally carrying a weapon and breaching the peace.

In his statement, Mr Mahmud, who held temporary humanitarian status, denied stabbing Mr Mustafa but admitted to having had an argument with him and being drunk during the incident.

The weapon was not found.

In submissions on punishment, lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General’s Office, asked Mr Justice Michael Mallia to take into consideration the gravity of the crime. He said a message had to be sent that the law applied to everyone and everywhere including a tent and open centres.

On the other hand, defence lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace, who appeared as legal aid, said his client has been held in preventative arrest for two years and seven months. He asked the judge to consider the circumstances in the North African countries and the atmosphere of tension and desperation the immigrants lived under in the open centres.