A boathouse owner, beaten with a two-metre iron chain by a neighbour after complaining about an inconvenience caused by dirty water collecting in a puddle outside his property, was awarded almost €6,000 in damages, while one of his opponents was awarded €8,190 after being punched in the face during the same incident.

The incident happened in September 2010. Mario Vella, 62, had one evening approached the owner of a neighbouring boathouse in St Paul’s Bay pointing out the inconvenience.

Etienne Fenech, the neighbour, had been washing a boat just outside his own property which was at a slightly elevated level to that of Mr Vella. Consequently, dirty water running down the road, collected in a puddle outside the lower boathouse, ended up being splashed by passing vehicles onto the parked car of Mr Vella’s son.

When the disgruntled man approached his neighbour, an argument broke out which soon degenerated into a fight between Mr Vella and his son, on one side and Mr Fenech and his brother-in-law, Antoine Spiteri, on the other.

It was in the course of this scuffle that Mr Fenech had allegedly fetched a two-metre iron chain with which he struck his neighbour, later arguing that he had just been trying to defend his own brother-in-law from the onslaught of the other two men.

In the course of civil proceedings for damages, Antoine Spiteri had claimed that he had been punched by both Mario Vella and his son, Matthew, when he got entangled in the fight.

The fractured cheekbone suffered at the hands of Mario Vella had left Mr Spiteri with a lingering pain and restricted his eating, the court was told.

On the basis of evidence produced, Mr Spiteri was awarded €8,190 in damages, payable by Mario Vella, after the First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff considered that the victim, who was 38 at the time of the incident, had a working life expectancy of some 26 years and had ended up suffering a 3% permanent disability.

Mr Vella’s son, also involved in the incident, was not held responsible for

However, in a parallel suit for damages instituted by Mario Vella against Etienne Fenech who had beaten him with the chain, the same court observed that the parties had presented conflicting versions of the violent episode.

After hearing the testimony of all parties involved, the court concluded that the version of Mario Vella and his son was ‘more convincing’ and ‘consistent throughout.’

The court observed that Mr Fenech had manifested no injuries and had brought no witnesses to support his version, although stating that other family members had witnessed the fight.

Moreover, although declaring that he had previously been the victim of a traffic accident which left him with a weak left hand and 12 fractures in his right hand, Mr Fenech had been washing a boat at the time of the incident, the court observed.

In his testimony, the man had even stated that he had lifted the heavy chain with both hands, thereby contradicting his claim that he lacked manual force.

On the other hand, the court noted that Mario Vella had suffered a torn biceps muscle in his left arm as a result of the beating, which had been medically certified as resulting in a 3% permanent disability.

For this reason, the court awarded the same Mario Vella €5977.80 by way of damages suffered at the hands of Etienne Fenech.

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