An argument over child school bullying led to a man being taken to court today to face a trial by jury over attempted murder.

Mohammed Shabosh stands accused of the attempted murder of Omar Baccouche outside the mosque in Paola on October 18, 2004.

The court was told this morning that the incident started with an argument outside the mosque between Mr Baccouche and Josef Lamloun, the uncle of the accused. Lamloun was claiming that Mr Baccouche's children were bullying his children at school.

Mr Shabosh, who happened to be driving by, stopped his car, and as the argument flared, he produced a tool from his car and allegedly assaulted Mr Baccouche. The victim suffered a severed artery and major loss of blood.

The victim had been in danger of losing his life but later recovered in hospital.

The accused turned himself in to the police a week later and said he was sorry for his actions, Police Superintendent Silvio Valletta told the court.

Testifying in his defence, Mr Shabosh said it was true that he had hit Mr Baccouche but he stressed that he had only wanted to scare him and to stop him hitting his uncle with a wooden stick.

He said he had been in Malta for two years, having stayed here with an expired visa, because he was in a relationship with a Maltese girl.

“I didn’t even want to scratch him. I just wanted to scare him but I was scared of him because he even hit me with the wooden stick. I never argued with anyone before. I hit him but don’t remember where. When I saw blood I got even more scared. I went home and couldn’t sleep. I had no intention to kill anyone,” a crying Mr Shabosh told jurors.