A pair of scissors was used by a 72-year-old man in his attempt to kill his 70-year-old neighbour, a court has heard. 

The compilation of evidence against English national John Oliver Kane, 72, began on Thursday in front of Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi.

Police inspector Kurt Zahra described the timeline of events police pieced together about the incident on Triq it-Tartarun last week. 

Zahra testified that the victim had been found in the common area of the apartment building where both the accused and the victim live.

He was found with several wounds, suspected to be stab wounds, to his chest and stomach and described his aggressor on-site to police who were first on the scene.

The man spent days fighting for his life and was released from the ITU at Mater Dei on Tuesday.

Separately, three men made their way to the Qawra police station where they wanted to file a report about the incident.

Officers at the station immediately recognised that they were connected to the suspected stabbing and arrested them.

The party included Kane, the accused, his husband and a third person, a friend of the couple.

Zahra said that the accused’s husband gave him access to their apartment but nothing of note was found there.

The crime scene was largely consigned to the front porches of two separate apartment blocks, the one where the argument started and the one where the victim was eventually found.

Kane himself was later taken to Mater Dei Hospital to be treated for his injuries, where he was found to have suffered from slight injuries following the brawl.

After being given his rights, Kane’s husband told police that a pair of scissors had been used in the fight and that he recognised them as a pair that the couple had in their home.

Throughout Zahra’s testimony, it emerged that the incident had not been caught on CCTV due to a powercut in the area, but they had managed to follow the group’s movements based on CCTV captured from other areas of the locality.

On their way to the police station, Kane and his friend had stopped and attempted to clean his wounds as he was bleeding from the elbow.

In the meantime, the court also heard that the victim had been assisted by two women who had heard the commotion.

Moving on to what emerged from questioning, Zahra told the court how Kane’s friend said he had witnessed the altercation begin in the common areas of the apartment block.

The friend had been helping Kane’s husband down the stairs and he said that as they were going down, the victim appeared and started to push Kane’s husband.

Once they reached the bottom landing and went outside, Kane and the victim threw punches at each other, adding that he later saw a pair of scissors on the floor.

Kane’s husband gave a similar version of events to the police, identifying the scissors as similar to the pair the couple had at home.

He added that his husband frequently carried something in his bag in order to defend himself, Zahra said.

He went on to describe his interrogation with the accused, who told police that the victim had punched him in the face and that he had tried to defend himself.

Zahra said Kane could not recall to him what happened during the altercation but insisted that he did not have a pair of scissors with him, even when told that both his husband and his friend had mentioned it to the police.

During cross-examination, it also emerged that Kane had suffered injuries to his right elbow and lip - possibly where the victim had allegedly bitten him.

AG lawyer Kaylie Bonett and police inspectors Kurt Zahra and Italo Mizzi prosecuted.Lawyers Joe Giglio, David Bonello and Mattea Giglio appeared for Kane