A parish priest and a man who had a heated argument out on a church parvis just before attending a funeral mass were fined over their “shameful” behaviour on Thursday.

The incident took place on October 27, 2018 when Cospicua parish priest Fr Anthony Cassar went to Rabat to celebrate mass at the funeral of the Rabat parish priest’s mother.

Lawrence Caruana, an acquaintance of his, turned up too.

The spat between the two men broke out in the presence of two nuns, another priest and other eyewitnesses on the parvis of St Paul Parish Church where the funeral was about to take place.

It was Cassar who apparently called out to Caruana, wanting to know why the man had allegedly lied about him when reporting him to the Archbishop (for an undisclosed reason).

“Good for you Lawrence, you’re a liar,” the priest had allegedly said, as reported by one eyewitness later in court.

A heated argument ensued and the term ‘liar’ was bandied about.

Caruana subsequently headed straight to the local police station, filing a report about the incident that landed both men in court, facing separate charges for allegedly breaching the peace and insulting each other.

When handing down judgment, Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo, observed that divergences emerged in the testimonies of the eyewitnesses.

There were conflicting statements about who said what, whether the incident involved shouting and who called the other a liar.

One fact was certain, the court concluded, namely that the word “liar” featured throughout the spat.

The incident on the church parvis was “shameful”, Magistrate Farrugia Frendo remarked, noting that “religious persons ended up insulting each other just before celebrating a funeral mass..”

Although the argument took place in a public space, there was no conclusive evidence as to shouting and so, both men were cleared of breaching public peace.

However, both were found guilty of insulting each other and thus fined €58.23 each for a contravention, whilst being bound under a €1,000 personal guarantee not to approach each other for a year.