A court held a special sitting despite the current suspension of business on Tuesday to hear pleas involving a man who was being held in custody at the police lock-up in Valletta after a stabbing incident.

Leandro Mansueto, 21 of Floriana, had been remanded in custody following his arraignment on March 24 after pleading not guilty to grievously injuring Glenn Cassar, 25, in a road rage clash on Triq il-Mediterran, Valletta, two days earlier.

Cassar had allegedly crashed into two parked vehicles after swerving to avoid a collision with a car driven by Mansueto.

That manoeuvre had sparked a heated row between the two drivers which escalated to the point that Cassar was allegedly stabbed in the leg by Mansueto who fled the scene and was later arrested at his home.

Later that evening, the victim of the alleged stabbing had called his aggressor’s brother from his hospital bed, threatening and insulting him over the phone.

Both Mansueto and Cassar were arraigned two days after the episode, with the alleged aggressor being remanded in custody, while the stabbing victim was granted bail.

Following that arraignment, Mansueto’s lawyers, Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia, filed an urgent application calling upon the courts to appoint a hearing notwithstanding that all court proceedings are currently at a standstill because of COVID-19 concerns.

The lawyers pointed out that Mansueto was being detained at the Valletta lock-up which has temporarily been transformed into a quarantine centre for all those remanded in custody, to make sure they are free from infection before being taken to prison. 

The application was upheld.

When the case was called before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, both the alleged victim, Glenn Cassar and his brother, Maverick, when summoned to testify chose not to do so to avoid possible self-incrimination.

After hearing submissions by the lawyers and the prosecutors, the court granted the accused bail against a deposit of €2,000, a personal guarantee of €3,000, an order to sign the bail book once a week and to abide by a curfew between 8pm and 6am.

Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were counsel to Mansueto.

Lawyer Giannella DeMarco was counsel to Cassar.