A witness this morning was caught out by a defence lawyer and stated that an allegation that his relative had grabbed a girl by the neck was a fact.

Asked by defence lawyer Joseph Giglio whether he had previously heard the allegation that Pierre Caruana had grabbed his former girlfriend Lexi by the neck, Jason Vella answered that this incident had happened only once.

He then changed his version and said that he had heard the allegation when he had been questioned by the police.

Mr Vella, a Maltese-Australian on his second visit to Malta, was giving evidence in the case against Andrew Martin, 27, of St Julians, who is pleading not guilty to seriously injuring Mr Caruana, who lives in Mellieha, on September 3 at 2.30 a.m., breaching the peace and the conditions of a previous release.

Mr Vella told the court that he was with Mr Caruana at Sabor Club in Paceville.

As they were leaving, Mr Caruana walked up to his former girlfriend, who was talking to the accused, and grabbed her hand. She asked Mr Caruana to leave her alone.

Mr Caruana asked her why and at this point Mr Martin pushed Mr Caruana to the floor. Mr Martin's friends then began beating Mr Caruana up.

In pleas on bail, Dr Giglio told Magistrate Neville Camilleri that his client had only been arraigned under arrest because Mr Vella was returning home to Australia tonight.

Magistrate Camilleri granted Mr Martin bail without any conditions.