A ‘bouncer’ who insisted under oath that he had nothing in his hands during the alleged Paceville attack involving three men with Samurai swords was caught out today when the defence counsel exhibited a photo of him wielding a truncheon.

In a rather colourful sitting before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, the three employees of Clique and Deja Vu clubs - outside which the sword incident occurred on May 21 - gave a meandering account of the incident, unanimously confirming that the man who wielded the 'Samurai' sword was a tall, strapping Libyan national, who is still on the run.

Two other Libyan nationals - Ramzi Abdulhafid Ib Abukem and Ibrahim Ben Jeddi of Swieqi – have been arrested and charged with the attempted murder of the three bouncers, attempted grievous bodily harm, slightly injuring two bouncers, and conspiring to commit murder.

However, the three employees testified that they were not bouncers. Asked what their job consisted of, they all replied: “a bit of everything”. They also failed to identify what weapons the two accused had allegedly been brandishing.

One of the employees, Carmelo Zammit, told the court that the tall Libyan and Mr Abukem had an altercation, smashing a table, bottles and glasses, and in the process slightly injuring some people.

While the two accused men left the club, the tall man approached him and offered to pay for the broken table.

“I told him: ‘There is no need because we’ll be paying for it ourselves but don’t you ever step foot in here again’.”

Mr Jeddi, the witness continued, then returned to the club but was refused access.

“I told him that they were no gentlemen”, Mr Zammit told the court. At that, he continued, Mr Jeddi went out of sight.

All three men then returned some 15 minutes later “with swords”. Asked to clarify, he testified that only the taller Libyan had brandished the sword. The other two had something in their hands but he couldn’t say what.

“One of my friends shouted: ‘watch out’ – I looked up and saw the blade coming down on me.

“He hit my thigh – had I not had my lighter in my pocket, I would have been hurt much more badly. I had to defend myself and so I pushed him”, he said, exhibiting a photo of his injury.

The other two men sped off to their car, which was parked nearby, flinging stones at Mr Zammit and at the other employees. Mr Jeddi also hurled a stereo at them.

Under cross-examination, lawyer Michael Sciriha pointed out that his injury, which had been confirmed by a doctor’s report, was that of a bruise.

“Am I right in saying that the sword was a plastic one?” the lawyer suggested.
Mr Zammit denied this.

“Wouldn’t a blade have left a different injury than that of a bruise?” the lawyer pressed on.

Mr Zammit insisted that the blow had been cushioned by the lighter in his pocket, which had been, in the process, “reduced to dust”.

Both Dr Sciriha and lawyer Kathleen Grima asked the witness repeatedly whether he had carried a pointed, sharp-tipped instrument in his hands.

Mr Zammit strenuously denied this, saying that the only thing he might have had in his hands was a walkie-talkie.

He was then shown two photographs of himself.

“What are you holding in the photo?” the magistrate asked.

“A truncheon,” came the reply.

Employee Simon Cassar, who described his job as that of a helper, also took the witness stand, giving a long-winded account of the incident.

Recounting how the taller Libyan man brandished a sword while he was outside smoking a cigarette, Mr Cassar said that he and his colleagues were forced to defend themselves.

“They came to kill – I’m sure he didn’t bring along a sword to eat kebabs with it.
The security officers had to defend themselves. I also jumped into the fray because I’m Maltese and they were Arabs and I always stick up for the Maltese,” he said.

Employee William Briguglio, who gave his job description as “customer care and doing whatever needs to be done”, said that he was hit on the elbow by a stereo which Mr Jeddi threw at him. He could not confirm what the two accused men held in their hands, pointing out that they threw stones.

Lawyer Robert Piscopo represented Ibrahim Bin Jeddi with the assistance of Dr Sciriha. Police inspector Matthew Spagnol prosecuted.

The case continues.