A man who spent a week in a coma after he was attacked with a metal bar in Paceville two years ago has been left “afraid to walk these streets” and questioning why his attackers were never found.

Marcello Ciric, 49, from Austria, was assaulted after he stopped for a drink with his girlfriend and a dog in a St Julian’s bar after a day of shopping on April 27, 2022.

He was returning from the bathroom to his outside table overlooking St George’s Bay when he suddenly felt a sharp, metallic object hit his body.

“They hit me from the back. It was four or five guys who hit me with metal bars on the back of my neck,” he recalled.

Ciric was left with injuries to the back of his neck, broken ribs and spent a week in a coma at Mater Dei Hospital. 

But the people who assaulted him have still not been found and charged, leaving him living in fear. He has decided to speak out in the hopes of finding answers.

“I’m afraid to walk these streets, not only for myself but also for my son, who looks like me, and my family,” he said, as he returned to the scene of the assault with Times of Malta this week.

Marcelo Ciric while in hospital

He is particularly perplexed because he said that the people who hit him asked for his name at the bar, Pura Vida, where he had been drinking.

“But I have no idea why they hit me or who it was that came after me,” he said.

Ciric decided to share his story after reading reports of a body being found in a suitcase in Gżira.

“It could have been me in that suitcase and that’s what I want to avoid,” he said.

He said the police told him they were not able to find his attackers despite looking at CCTV footage.

“There must be 50,000 cameras in Paceville, why haven’t they found the people who did this,” he asked.

He also walked through the streets of Paceville with plainclothes policemen as they looked to identify the people who committed the assault but he was unable to identify anyone as he had been attacked from behind.

Replying to questions, the police said that “all efforts are being made to identify the alleged suspects”.

“You may wish to note that police investigations together with a magisterial inquiry are still ongoing,” a spokesperson said.