Updated 12.56pm

A 21-year-old bouncer has denied seriously injuring a man outside a Paceville nightclub on New Year's Eve and claims he was the victim after being stabbed with a broken bottle.

Riald Gragjevi appeared in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to causing grievous injuries by using improper arms against Idriss Ahmed Adem in an assault that was caught on camera.

Gragjevi, an Albanian national who lives in St Paul's Bay, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon as he attempted to board a flight out of the country.

Police officials at the airport recognised that the man was connected to the Paceville beating and he was arrested by officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit. 

Inspector Brian Xuereb told the court that he had been working the night shift between December 31 and January 1 when he responded to a report that a person was unconscious in St George’s Road in Paceville.

When Xuereb arrived on the scene, an ambulance was called for the victim - Sudanese student Ahmed Adem - and he was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where he was found to have been suffering from grievous bodily harm.  

Xuereb added that earlier in the evening a security guard had filed a police report saying that he had been assaulted and injured with a broken bottle, and it was determined that the report had been made about the victim.

Gragjevi was arrested when police were alerted that he was trying to board a flight out of Malta and leave the country.

The police inspector said Ahmed Adem is also wanted by police and is being investigated in connection to the security guard's injuries. 

Defence lawyer Shazoo Ghaznavi told Magistrate Joe Mifsud that while they would not be asking for bail at the time being, his client maintained his innocence and that he had been a victim himself.

"My client was stabbed by a broken bottle and suffered an injury that required eight stitches in the shoulder," he said, adding that two other bottles were thrown at him after the stabbing. 

Ghaznavi said his client was not trying to abscond from Malta and that his plane ticket had been bought three weeks before the incident.

The lawyer, assisted by lawyers Charlton Gouder and Jessica Formosa, urged the prosecution to bring civilian witnesses to court as quickly as possible so that a case for bail could be made. 

Footage of the brutal attack, first published by Lovin Malta, showed around five bouncers kicking and hitting a man lying motionless on the floor as horrified onlookers watched. 

The victim also published a video showing that he had tried to get the police to intervene with an issue he was having with the club bouncers prior to the beating. 

25-year-old Ahmed Albarjo was left with serious injuries after the attack. Photo: Lovin Malta

Asked by the court who he worked for, Gragjevi said he worked in security. 

Kerber Es Ltd, the company responsible for some of the bouncers involved in the incident, has declined to comment due to ongoing police investigations.