A friend of the Serbian man who was murdered in Qawra yesterday, was arraigned in court this afternoon and accused of slightly injuring the man accused of the murder.

Zoran Jocic, 33, from Serbia, was conditionally discharged for six months after pleading guilty to assaulting Emil Atanasov, 27, who stands accused of murdering Kristic Dragoljub, 27.

The assault took place during the same incident which led to the stabbing.

Jocic said he was too drunk to remember the details of what had happened.

A Macedonian man who was with the Serbs shortly before the incident said the two were “quite drunk”.

Dani Krstski, 34, testified that he met the two Serbs earlier that evening and they spent the evening drinking at the bar. When it was about to close, they decided to go up to the flat Mr Krstski shared with the Jocic.

He told the court they were listening to music until there was a power cut and there was an argument between Mr Atansov and the two Serbs, but he did not specify what they were fighting about.