An unfortunate incident, which transformed a fun night out in Paceville last summer into a nightmare for many, has resulted in a criminal action against four men.
Lazar Zakev, a 21-year old Macedonian national working as a barman in Malta, Noel Falzon, 47, from Birżebbuġa, as manager, together with local entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti, 51, and his son Luke, 27, as proprietors of Bacco Sticks and Sum by Hugo's, were summoned to appear in court.
Police pressed charges against all four for having, through negligence or non-observance of statutory regulations, caused grievous injuries of a permanent nature upon three teenage patrons involved in the incident.
The men were further charged with having breached health and safety regulations, while the bar manager and proprietors were separately charged with having permitted entry to persons under the age of 17.
Read: Defective alcohol pourer blamed for horrific Paceville accident
The freak incident had revolved around the serving of a particularly popular cocktail, known as ‘Flaming Lamborghini’, on the night of July 7, 2017 inside the Paceville nightclub.
Just as the barman was pouring alcohol into one of the glasses, the liquid suddenly turned into a flaming spray, hitting two teenage girls, a 16-year-old Italian and a 17-year-old Spaniard, as well as a 16-year old Italian boy.
The former suffered facial burns while the latter was worst off since in his panicked reaction, he reportedly inhaled the flaming liquid, ending up in intensive care.
Police investigations led to the criminal proceedings which kicked off before magistrate Ian Farrugia.
In a statement released to the press, Joe Giglio, who is appearing as defence counsel for the bar owners and manager, said that “this was a very unfortunate incident”.
While highlighting that his clients were offering “all support and solidarity to the persons concerned”, it was stated that “the barman they employed was fully qualified and trained”.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi is defence counsel to the barman.
Inspector Matthew Spagnol is prosecuting.