Eight family members involved in a violent Easter Sunday brawl that featured the throwing of punches and cracking of horsewhips have been let off with a fine after a raft of charges fizzled out in court.
The incident dates to April 2019, when members of two warring Cospicua families came face to face outside a food kiosk in the area known as ix-Xaghjra ta’ Bormla.
One of the victims, at the time locked in a dispute over child maintenance with his ex-wife who hailed from the rival family, had just popped over to the public bathrooms, when one of the accused allegedly approached him with a horsewhip.
A relative of the victim stepped in to break up the assault but other members of the rival family joined the fray which soon mushroomed into a full-scale fist fight, with eyewitnesses later describing the scene as “one mighty commotion".
The police pressed charges against Carmelo Dalli, Frederick Dalli, Charlston Cassar, Lee Julian Cassar, Josloann Cassar, Redent Cassar, Tristan Cassar and Kurt David Azzopardi for involvement in the violent riot, for insulting and threatening members of the Brincat family as well as breaching the public peace.
Each of the accused also faced various separate charges related to the injuries suffered by the four victims, two of whom suffered fractures while two others got off with slight injuries.
When delivering judgment, the court, presided over by magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, started off by observing that the primary victim had since forgiven his alleged aggressors.
'Friends who occasionally meet over a cup of tea'
Ever since that violent episode, there had been no other incident between the two families who were now “friends,” testified the victim, adding that they now occasionally met over a cup of tea.
Another female victim also testified that she could not identify who among the accused had inflicted the injury to her leg.
As for the grievous injuries, all eyewitnesses testified that there was “a whole commotion” but none could point out who among the eight accused had actually triggered the fight.
CCTV footage of the incident, presented by the prosecution, had not been examined by a court expert and thus could not be admitted as evidence.
A police inspector who viewed that footage had testified how the incident appeared to have started when one of the accused followed the victim with “a long, thin object” which appeared to be a whip.
The use of a knife was not sufficiently proven since the prosecution had only presented a photo of a knife found inside the car of another relative of the accused who, however, was not a party to the proceedings.
The charge of a violent riot also failed because the prosecution did not prove the existence of a “common design” nor the use of a regular weapon in terms of law.
The brawl had been an “impromptu” incident, triggered by the chance encounter of rival family members, observed the court.
Nor had sufficient evidence been presented to prove the alleged breach of suspended sentences, previous court orders and recidivism included among the charges.
The accused were cleared of all charges except for two that were contraventional in nature, namely the breach of public peace and insults and threats, for which they were each fined €40.
Lawyers Franco Debono, Arthur Azzopardi, Marion Camilleri and Mario Mifsud were defence counsel.