Man who stabbed friend appeals jail sentence

A Libyan man who was cleared of trying to kill his friend but convicted of seriously injuring another man has appealed the verdict, insisting he should be freed of all charges.

Moamr Ali Melad Eltarhuni, 27, was found not guilty of trying to kill Shokri Ali Alalwani on May 25, 2006 because the jury accepted that he acted in self-defence.

However, he was found guilty of possessing a knife without a licence and seriously injuring another friend, Aimen Al Ghanemi, who tried to separate the two men during a fight.

Mr Alalwani had attacked Mr Eltarhuni after being unable to find a CD and blamed him for its disappearance. Under an onslaught of punches, Mr Eltarhuni got hold of a knife and stabbed him with it. As Mr Ghanemi tried to separate the two, he was injured.

Jurors had found the accused guilty of seriously injuring Mr Ghanemi but the act was excusable because of his state of mental agitation.

On Tuesday, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono jailed him for a year, which in practice means that he has a month left of his sentence to serve because he was in custody during the proceedings.

But his defence lawyer Joe Brincat insisted yesterday that his client should not have been found guilty of serious injury given that the jury had recognised that the wounds were inflicted on his friend in an agitated mental state. His client simply did not intend hurting Mr Ghanemi.

Moreover, he said that since self-defence had been accepted, he should neither have been found guilty of using a knife illegitimately.