Two men were cleared on Wednesday of grievously injuring a clubber in Paceville last year, with one of them landing a jail term and a fine for drug trafficking.

Nenad Anic, 41 and Nemanja Vucicevic, 33, were arrested following a fight that broke out around 1am on March 10 last year at the Havana Club, wherein an Albanian man ended up with a fractured arm.

The alleged victim subsequently filed a report at the district police station, claiming that he had been clubbing with a group of co-nationals, taking photos with the Albanian flag  when bouncers approached and asked for their identification documents.

As the man handed over his ID card, the bouncers suddenly hit him on the head, continuing to punch and kick him as he fell to the floor.

The man identified the two bouncers as his aggressors, although later admitting that at first he had not been very sure.

He said he had never faced any problems with the security personnel and admitted that “this time I don’t know what happened.”

The two suspects were charged with grievous bodily harm, insulting their victim, disturbing the public peace and working as private guards without the necessary licence.

Anic was separately charged with possessing a knuckleduster.

Vucicevic was found in possession of a small sachet of cannabis. A further search at police headquarters, had yielded more sachets of cannabis and cocaine, tucked away in the man’s underwear.

He claimed that he had got them from a flatmate.

Vucicevic was separately charged with drug trafficking conspiracy and aggravated possession of the drugs within 100 metres of a place frequently visited by youths.

During proceedings before the magistrates’ court, the only witness called to testify about that night’s events, was the alleged victim.

After saying that he could not identify the accused in court, he then claimed that Vucicevic had not assaulted him, but had pushed him out.

Anic was a bouncer at the club with whom he never had any problems, the witness explained, adding that the “guys who had been with me told me that those two who break my arm and they hit me, they recognise them very good.”

Such multiple versions cast doubt upon the alleged victim’s reliability as a witness, observed the court.

Moreover, although the man claimed to have been beaten by seven or eight bouncers, the police had not tried to establish who the other aggressors were.
While Anic insisted that he had not been working at the club that day, Vucicevic had said that he had only tried to calm down the fight between some seven to twelve persons at the bar.

When his attempts were ignored, he had simply grabbed the clubbers and pushed them out of the premises.

The prosecution had failed to prove the grievous bodily harm, the insults and breach of public peace in respect of both co-accused.

As for working as private guards without a licence, that charge was only proved in respect of Vucicevic, who was also declared guilty of the drug-related charges.

Evidence showed that he had received the drugs from a flatmate, to hand over to a third party at Paceville, getting €50 for the job.

It was proved that the drugs were not intended for his personal use and since he had been arrested “at the very heart of Paceville,” there was not doubt that that was a place “frequented by young people on a habitual basis.”

The court, presided over by magistrate Doreen Clarke, cleared Anic of all charges, whilst condemning Vucicevic to a 2-year jail term and a €1000 fine.

Inspector Joseph Xerri prosecuted.
Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Roberta Bonello assisted Anic.
Lawyer Joseph Bonnici assisted Vucicevic.