A violent fight, sparked off by unwelcome attention for a man's motorbike, landed the victim with a knife lodged in his back and the aggressor with a five-year jail term.

Valletta resident Giovanni Scicluna, 54, nicknamed 'ix-Xadin’, had been chatting with friends outside his home when he was drawn by commotion close to the spot where his motorbike was parked.

The vehicle had allegedly been targeted earlier on by vandals who had urinated over it, thereby making its owner extra cautious.

Calling out to the group of men standing close to his bike, he was met with a volley of verbal insults which sparked off the argument between the motorbike owner and A. Cini, one of the gang who allegedly began to swear at Mr Scicluna.

Several eyewitnesses testified how Mr Cini had refused to apologise after hurling verbal abuse at the motorbike owner.

However, it was allegedly when reference was made to the accused's deceased father that the situation rapidly got out of hand. The two men came to blows until the accused allegedly attacked Mr Cini with a knife, slashing him several times before stabbing him in the back as the latter turned to leave.

The final blow was so forceful that the knife ended up lodged firmly in the victim's back and had to be removed later in hospital under surgery.

The aggressor was prosecuted and charged with attempted murder, grievous injuries upon the victim, unlicensed possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, breaching the peace, breaching earlier court conditions and relapsing.

In a 58-page long judgment, magistrate Josette Demicoli observed that, after examining in detail the various and conflicting versions of the incident as recounted by both parties as well as by eyewitnesses who had testified, the account given by the victim and his friends was closer to the truth.

The victim himself had not denied punching the accused and had faced separate charges for grievous bodily harm after the incident.

However, the accused's argument that the injuries suffered at the hands of the victim had brought about his reaction as one of "a sudden irresistible passion", thereby rendering his acts excusable at law, failed to convince the court.

Pointing out that the whole episode could have "easily been avoided with some good sense", the court concluded that the accused's version had been "mostly untrue".

“It emerges from this testimony that it was the accused who started the argument, apparently annoyed by the fact that the youths had looked at his motorbikes and, suspecting, with no basis, that they were going to damage them,” the court observed.

Medical records showed that the accused had only suffered a cut to his lip which needed suturing, while Mr Cini had suffered several knife wounds before being stabbed in the back as he walked away.

“What urgent necessity was there for the accused to hit him in the back at that time?” the court continued, pointing out that even when provoked, a person of ordinary temperament should not resort to violence.

The court therefore declared the accused guilty and handed him a 5-year jail term and a fine of €116. He was also ordered to pay €5,064 by way of court expenses. The court issued a three-year restraining order in favour of the victim, applicable upon the expiration of the prison term.

Inspectors Kylie Borg and Saviour Baldacchino prosecuted. Lawyer Edward Gatt appeared parte civile.