A man who attacked two bouncers with a knuckleduster has had a six-year jail sentence annulled because of an error in his written judgment.
Twain Sciberras will now re-appear before a magistrate to be sentenced once again in connection with the December 2019 incident.
Sciberras was handed the jail term in 2023 after a magistrate declared him guilty of grievous bodily harm, saying CCTV footage clearly showed him raining down blows on a Paceville security guard using a knuckleduster.
Sciberras had also assaulted the guard and his colleague later on that night on a street in Paceville, the court concluded.
One of the bouncers needed 18 stitches following the assault while the other suffered a head fracture and had eyesight problems following the incident.
Both men’s injuries were classified as “grievous” by doctors and in its judgment, the first court cited articles in Malta’s criminal code which refer to crimes leading to such injuries.
But in its sentence, the court wrote that Sciberras had “slightly” injured the two men – a different, lower classification of injuries.
Prosecutors argued that this was a simple oversight and that the court’s intention was clear, as the judgment cited legal provisions related to crimes leading to grievous injuries.
A court of appeal disagreed. Citing case law, it concluded that the first court had failed to adequately define the crimes that the accused was being found guilty of – a key prerequisite when meting out punishment.
It therefore nullified Sciberras’ six-year jail term and ordered the case to be sent back to the Magistrates’ Court, for him to be sentenced once again. A different magistrate will be assigned his case.
In a similar case concluded last month, a man who was originally sentenced to seven years in prison for having robbed an elderly couple had that jail term slashed to just 18 months following re-sentencing.
The court of appeal was presided over by Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Arthur Azzopardi appeared for the defendant.