A 33-year-old man suffered a perforated liver on Sunday afternoon when he was stabbed by an 18-year-old who insisted in court that he was acting in self-defence.

The incident happened at 3.30pm on Sunday during a Għargħur feast activity.

Claudio Galea, from Msida, who works as a cleaner at Mount Carmel Hospital, claimed that he had been surrounded and assaulted by a group of around 20 people.

He said someone – whom he could not identify – tried to stab him with a penknife but he managed to wrest it away from him and started waving it around. As he was doing so, he hit the victim, Claudio Calleja.

He denied seriously injuring the man, being in possession of a sharp and pointed instrument without a police licence and with breaching the peace.

Reading from the defendant’s police statement, defence lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo explained that their client was at a bar with his girlfriend. At one point, someone slammed an empty bottle of vodka on a table.

The law courts are not the Valletta market

Their client told him to be careful as there were children around him and was soon approached by a bearded man who told him: “Be quiet, you are not even from Għargħur. Be quiet or I’ll spill your guts out.” He left the bar but outside found himself surrounded by a large group who assaulted him, the court heard.

His lawyers said there existed all the legal elements of self-defence but to avoid lengthy court proceedings, their client was willing to plead guilty to the charges “to end the story there”. Police Inspector Sandra Zammit said that, in view of the man’s clean criminal record, the prosecution would be satisfied with a suspended sentence.

But Magistrate Aaron Bugeja reminded the parties that the law courts were not the Valletta market, where they could haggle to their heart’s content. He said the court would not allow someone to plead guilty to a charge “simply as a shortcut”.

Given the situation, the defence lawyers said their client was pleading not guilty to the charges and requested that he be released on bail.

However, Inspector Zammit objected, saying that the victim and many other civilian witnesses still had to testify. She said she was also worried since Għargħur was celebrating the St Bartholomew feast this weekend.

The police had not yet spoken to the victim as he was unconscious and had spent some time at the Intensive Therapy Unit.

Magistrate Bugeja granted Mr Galea bail against a €500 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee. He also ordered him to be indoors between 10pm and 6am the following morning and to stay away from Għargħur.