A man was conditionally discharged and fined after commenting on Facebook that Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina and his brother, civil society group Repubblika president Robert Aquilina, “deserved a good beating once and for all”.

Sandro Farrugia was summoned to court on Friday over the hate speech incident dating back to July when he posted a comment under a Facebook post uploaded by Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar.

On July 21, Cutajar reacted to a protest by the civil society group outside police headquarters in Floriana where the group’s president called upon police authorities to take action against the corrupt and their corrupters.

“Do not let the criminals command any longer,” Aquilina said, calling for immediate police action against a number of politicians, businessmen and other high profile figures, including Cutajar. 

The Labour MP took objection to the fact that her image had featured among those placed outside the police gates by protesters during that event and had subsequently voiced her opinion on Facebook. 

She accused Repubblika of applying “double standards”, reminding the group’s president that “the only person facing criminal charges in court was his brother, Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina”.

That post, clearly referring to the traffic charges filed against the PN MP - who has since been acquitted - had sparked a series of comments, one of which by Farrugia who claimed that the brothers “deserved a good beating once and for all”.

And after that beating “no dentist would be able to reconstruct” their jaw, which Farrugia likened to that of a horse. 

The brothers flagged the hateful comment to the Police Commissioner and criminal action was taken against the man. 

When appearing in court on Friday, during a sitting presided over by Magistrate Ian Farrugia, the accused registered an admission, apologising for the comment and showed remorse.

In light of that admission, he was conditionally discharged for two years and was ordered to pay a fine of €400.