A magistrate on Friday ordered that a Syrian man accused of murdering a co-national in Gozo earlier this month be placed under a bill of indictment as she ruled there was enough evidence for the case to continue.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was ruling in the case against a man accused of stabbing another in the heart during a fight in Marsalforn on May 7.

The ruling came as the compilation of evidence against Syrian national Maher Aljasem, 24, from Marsalforn, continued in the Gozo law courts. 

Aljasem stands accused of killing Fawaz Najem, 25, during a heated confrontation between two groups of Syrians in his Marsalforn home at around 9pm on May 7.

Defence lawyer Peter Fenech insisted during submissions before the decree, that his client’s was legitimate self-defence and that he had no case to answer for. He said his client was at home when a group of Syrians went there to cause trouble.

“Did Maher have the intention to kill or was he simply defending himself? He admitted to the police and told them he was defending himself from the attack, so we believe there is no basis for the case to continue,” he said.

Lawyer Franco Debono rebutted that such a line of defence was one which had to be considered by jurors during the trial. The court agreed with this stance, saying she was precluded from deciding on the merits of the case but had to simply rule whether there were enough reasons for the case to continue.

'He died on the way'

Friday’s sitting was almost entirely taken up with the testimonies of two Syrian nationals who were involved in the altercation that cost Fawaz his life.

Sulejman Hamdi explained how Fawaz called him that morning to take him to the polyclinic because he was injured after being involved in a fight.

He said he did not tell him with whom he fought and neither who hurt him. He said he later received footage of the fight on the Marsalforn promenade.

That evening, he agreed to go for a coffee with another two Syrians when, all of a sudden, a commotion erupted because Fawaz was seen on the ground. He said he had not witnessed the fight but noticed that Fawaz had a bad head injury and was holding his abdomen.

“All he told me was to put up his legs. We got him into a car and drove him to hospital but he died on the way,” he said.

Kazem Abdalla, another Syrian who was directly involved in the fight and had to be treated for his injuries, also took the witness stand.

He explained how he was having a coffee with Fawaz and some five other Syrian nationals on the day. He said Fawaz was still angry about the fight he had had with Maher earlier in the day and wanted to go to Maher’s house to settle matters.

Abdalla said he told him not to go to Maher's house, to avoid trouble.

“He didn’t seem nervous. He left and around 30 minutes later I saw him knocking on Maher’s door and arguing with Ahmed, who lives with Maher. I saw Ahmed hitting Fawaz, telling him to get out of the house and then Maher came and started attacking Fawaz with a chair. The fight continued in a construction site next door,” he said.

When asked, Abdalla said he did not see a knife because it was dark but insisted that it must have been something that cuts as he needed sutures on his shoulder and lower back.

Under cross-examination, Abdalla denied that he formed part of the group that went to Maher's for a fight and also insisted that he did not know the other Syrians who gathered at the scene.

The case continues in July.

Lawyers Peter Fenech, Elena Fenech and Amy Zahra were defence counsels.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Deborah Camilleri and Matthew Xuereb appeared parte civile, on behalf of the victim's family.