Stabbed money lender who asked to see receipt

A Naxxar man stabbed a man who lent him money to pay a fine after the lender followed him to see the receipt.

Raymond Abela stabbed Pacifico Bezzina minutes after Bezzina lent him Lm200 to pay a court fine on condition he saw the receipt.

But a court heard how Bezzina was stabbed in November 2000 when he followed Abela in his car after Abela drove off without producing the receipt.

Abela was yesterday jailed for 14 months for injuring Bezzina. The injury was classified as slight and Abela was acquitted of inflicting a serious injury.

But Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that Abela's criminal record listed 13 convictions between 1984 and 1999.

She remarked that a jail term would be more appropriate in the circumstances, bearing in mind that Abela had not taken up the chances given to him by the court to change his ways.

The court heard how Abela told Bezzina that the receipt was in the car but drove off when he got to it and Bezzina gave chase.

Bezzina told the court he had decided to lend Abela the money because the fine was about to be converted to imprisonment.

He had given the matter a lot of thought but when he relented, he had told Abela he wanted to see the court receipt to make sure of the reason he was lending him the money.

But Abela walked to his car, got in and drove off. He followed him and Abela eventually stopped, got out of the car and waved a piece of paper.

But when Bezzina reached for the paper, Abela stabbed him and ran off but not before Bezzina managed to throw in a punch.

The magistrate also heard how Abela was stopped by police after six days on the wanted list. He admitted borrowing the money from Bezzina but had lied to him because he had really wanted the money to pay a third party.

Abela said Bezzina wanted to see a receipt and the fight broke out when he gave him a copy, Bezzina assaulted him and they fell to the ground where Bezzina stabbed him.

Asked why he had not reported the stabbing to the police, he said he did not think the police would believe him because of his criminal record and he fled because he wanted time to think.

Police Inspectors Carmelo Magri and Simon Galea prosecuted.