A man who allegedly brandished a knife and threatened a patron in a Birkirkara bar on Sunday, was granted bail after being taken to court on Monday.

Joseph Micallef, 50 of Birkirkara, was arrested soon after the incident in Main Street at 8am.

He allegedly flew into a rage after being told that someone was poking fun at his late brother who had died at the same village bar, due to natural causes.

He confronted one of the patrons at the bar, brandishing the weapon and making threats.

However when policemen arrived at the bar, all was calm.

The alleged victim explained that an argument had broken out and Micallef had threatened him with the knife before other patrons stepped in to defuse the situation.

The suspected aggressor was arrested a couple of hours later following a police search.

On Monday he pleading not guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm, making threats beyond the limits of provocation as well as verbally threatening and harassing his alleged victim.

He was further charged with breaching the peace, swearing and being drunk in public.

A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution in view of the fact that civilian witnesses still have to testify.

Defence lawyer Franco Debono once again highlighted the need for the prosecution to produce civilian witnesses at the arraignment. The lawyer made similar arguments last Friday during the arraignment of three suspects charged with forcing two South American women into prostitution.

When such witnesses happened to be tourists, they are usually asked to testify at the suspect’s arraignment so that they may subsequently leave the island.

The same procedure ought to apply when those witnesses were Maltese nationals, argued Debono, pointing out that the accused’s rights also had to be safeguarded.

In this case, CCTV footage of the alleged incident had also been preserved. And the accused had a clean criminal record, argued the lawyer, adding that the man had long been “hurt” by the victim’s alleged mocking of his brother’s death.

Magistrate Elaine Mercieca granted bail against a deposit of €3500, a personal guarantee of €7,500, daily signing of the bail book and abiding by a curfew between 10pm and 6am.

The court also issued a protection order in favour of the alleged victim.

Inspector Ritienne Gauci prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Francesca Zarb are defence counsel.