The police are conducting an internal investigation into why no action was taken when a man reported that he had been assaulted at a bar in Hamrun - shortly before the same man fired two shots through a glass door of the bar.

The man, Jonathan Casha, 31 of Ghaxaq, stands accused of the attempted murder of Ryan Fleri and bar owner Carmelo Vella. The incident happened on April 21 at Zoners Pub in Hamrun.

Police Inspector Sarah Magri said on April 21 at around 1am she was informed there was a shooting at Zoners Bar in Main Street Hamrun.

She went to the site and saw broken window panes and people who had been injured.

An empty gunshot cartridge was on the floor. 

Inspector Magri said that witnesses told the police that the shooting happened around 12.45am. At the time there were the regulars in the bar plus  one person (the accused). This person ordered a bottle of vodka. He then started harassing some women. Some men took him to one side and asked him to leave. The bar owner also spoke to him and the accused left the bar.

As he left, the accused smashed a window of his own car.

In police investigations after the shooting the police found that the accused had five firearms registered on his name.

Police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino said that he spoke to the accused, who had cooperated fully with the police. He had told the police that he went to have a drink at the bar and was there for a while. He had an argument over two women and he was assaulted by some people. At one point he was taken outside by these people and he went into his car. They followed him and broke one of his car windows. He was scared to go to Hamrun police station because he was being followed, and instead went to Marsa.

The inspector said the police officers there saw him looking drunk and they told him to get medical certificates to prove he had been assaulted, and to find somebody to take him home.He then left the station.

The accused told the police that when he got home, he  felt confused, grabbed his gun and went back to the bar. From inside the car he fired two shots in the direction of the bar. He told the police he fired the shots to scare the people inside. He was aware that there were some 12 people inside.

The inspector said the accused was an introvert and very quiet and it was because he was so quiet that his colleagues call him il buona, as a joke rather than a family name.

After firing the shots, the accused went back to his house in Has-Saptan, put the gun away and went to his mother's house.

Replying to questions, the inspector said there were  investigations within the police over how nothing had been done when the accused called at Marsa police station.

Taking the witness stand, one of the injured men, 19-year-old, Ryan Fleri, said he went into the bar ordered a drink and as soon as the glass touched his lips, he  heard two shots and felt burning on his back.

He said he saw one man with blood on his face and glass in his back.

Carmelo Vella said the accused had flirted with and harassed women in the bar and was asked to leave. Sometime later he heard two loud noises and glass breaking. He felt something burning on his forehead. Some people rushed to the toilets to hide.

The accused was granted bail at the end of the sitting.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Noel Bianco were defence counsel.