Two bouncers at a Paceville club, who had badly beaten up a young Italian student, leaving him with a permanent disability, were ordered to pay €100,000 by way of damages to the victim.

James Azzopardi and Martin Bonnici had been on duty at the Havana Club on the evening of July 2007 when, at around 2am, an argument broke out between a group of Italian youths and security officials.

Filippo de Romanis, at the time a 20-year old political science student, was on holiday in Malta where his brother and a friend were attending a conference on Peace in the Middle East and Politics in the Mediterranean.

The bouncers decided to forcefully throw out the pranksters, giving rise to a physical scuffle in which the 20-year old ended up being badly manhandled

The young men, on a night out in Paceville were allegedly under the influence of alcohol and had been fooling around at the club when they got into trouble with the bouncers on duty at the club.

As the argument escalated, the bouncers decided to forcefully throw out the pranksters, giving rise to a physical scuffle in which the 20-year old ended up being badly manhandled, as he was kicked and punched, even after he collapsed on the street outside after being blinded by some spray.

Following the incident, the Italians had filed a report at the St Julian’s police station, after which Mr de Romanis was treated in hospital for his injuries which, at the time, had been certified as slight in nature.

However, upon his return home, he was examined by Italian doctors who had pronounced his knee injuries as grievous, to the extent that they required a surgical intervention at a Roman clinic. In spite of this treatment, the victim ended up with an 11% permanent disability.

The man filed a civil action for damages against the two bouncers who had earlier on faced criminal proceedings over the same incident, pleading guilty to the charges.

However, when faced with the action for damages, the two men had denied any wrongdoing, stressing that they had only pleaded guilty in the criminal action because they had been ‘under pressure.’

The First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, after delving into the evidence surrounding the dynamics of the incident, concluded that the version of the victim, as confirmed by his brother, friend and other eyewitnesses present at the time, was credible.

The Court observed that what had most probably happened was that the bouncers had felt offended when the youngsters, in a tipsy state, appeared to be poking fun at the men in front of all those present at the club.

Irked by the foreigners’ behaviour, the security men had lost their temper and after shoving the customers out of the premises, had vented their anger by raining blows and kicking the victim as he lay on the street outside.

In the light of such circumstances, the Court declared the bouncers jointly responsible, ordering them to fork out €102,523.42 by way of damages in favour of the applicant.

The applicant was represented in court by Josette Grech.

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