Paceville bouncers have been caught on camera beating up two men in an apparently unprovoked attack that happened two months ago.
The attack, which dates back to the early hours of a Sunday morning in May, left a Syrian and Jordanian man aged 29 and 33 respectively with serious injuries and needing multiple stitches. The two men were allegedly attacked after being refused entry into the nightclub.
In CCTV footage first published on TVM and then posted to Facebook, a man in a white shirt can be seen talking to a group of bouncers outside a Paceville club. All of a sudden, another bouncer approaches the man from behind and thumps him on the back of his head.
Caught unawares, the dazed victim turns to face his aggressor. But before he can take more than a step towards him, another bouncer steps into the fray. He swings, grabs and kicks in a frenzied attack that leads both men to the other side of the street.
As the man stumbles away, he is eventually caught with a left hook to his head and collapses on the opposite pavement. Video shows him lying there, face-down and presumably passed out.
READ: 'Six bouncers beat me until I lost consciousness,' clubber claims
Another man believed to be a friend of the first victim appears, takes off his shirt and gestures towards the bouncers. A bouncer can be seen grabbing a glass bottle. According to TVM, the shirtless man was soundly beaten by the bouncers off-camera, in a nearby square.
Six bouncers, all Maltese nationals aged between 24 and 51, are expected to be arraigned in court in connection with the attack.
Bouncer regulation
Nightclub security was a free-for-all for several years, with bouncers not needing a licence or training of any kind.
Laws regulating the profession were finally introduced in 2012 after several years of promises and false starts, with bouncers required to have police, armed forces, prison or private security experience and a specialised licence following training.
But the requirements appear to have had little effect on the way Paceville venues are controlled, with reports of violence a regular occurrence. Last October, police said that they had caught 20 bouncers working without a licence.