A man has been jailed for 12 months by a court for brutally beating another man who had confronted him for repeatedly harassing his girlfriend at a Paceville club two years ago.

The incident occurred in the early hours of May 2, 2014, when the victim, Clayton Grech, together with his partner Ingrid Galea, and another man were having a drink at Move Club.

The court heard that the accused, Aleksander Marinkovich, 26, from St Paul’s Bay, started harassing the victim’s girlfriend and repeatedly grabbed her hand. Things came to a head when the victim squirted water in the defendant’s direction.

Mr Marinkovich then called his friends and retaliated violently. Mr Grech suffered grievous facial injuries, his partner and friend reported slight wounds.

The accused was subsequently expelled from the club, but tried to make his way back even though the entrance was locked.

In its decision the court presided by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli noted that CCTV footage corroborated almost in full the version of events given by the victims, with the only exception being that the number of persons involved in the fight wasfive and not 10.

The magistrate said that such evidence was enough for the court to find the accused guilty of various charges.

While noting that the accused had no criminal record, the court noted that his attempt to re-enter the club to deliver another brutal beating to the victim merited an effective prison term.

Consequently, Mr Marinkovich, who is a Serbian national, was jailed for 12 months.

Furthermore, the court issued a restraining order to safeguard the victims from coming into contacted with the defendant.

Police inspector Trevor Micallef prosecuted.