The owner of a Paceville restaurant and his brother may well have saved people’s lives on Tuesday night when they managed to restrain a man who was attacking patrons with a knife and glass bottles.

“Had we not intervened, he would have killed someone,” said the owner of Fumo Italian restaurant, who asked Times of Malta to withhold his name.

“And we were lucky too as we may not have been here to tell the story,” he added.

The brothers both required medical treatment for lacerations they received from the Spanish man, who entered the restaurant in Triq il-Wilġa at about 10.30pm and started attacking patrons with a knife and glass bottles that he picked up from the tables. A Swiss man was grievously injured in the attack.

"It could have easily ended in tragedy".- Restaurant owner

In confirming the incident, the police said that, before he entered the restaurant, the man damaged a Ford Focus driven by a 28-year-old Pakistani.

The Italian restaurateur said the man, who was not a patron, entered the restaurant and started bothering diners, who numbered about 20 or 30 at the time.

'He smashed a bottle on a man's head'

“We immediately realised that he was not acting normally. We asked him to leave and he grabbed a glass bottle from one of the tables and smashed it on a Swiss man’s head,” the owner said.

“He then grabbed another bottle and a knife and attacked us. It was like he was out of his mind. I’m quite sure he would have killed someone had we not restrained him,” the owner added.

The brothers grabbed the man’s arms and held him down until the police arrived “in no time”.

The police said the man had to be tasered after he disobeyed their orders and continued to be aggressive.

“I have been here for three years and this is the first time I experienced something like this in Malta,” the restaurateur said.

'I'm no hero'

“And I consider myself lucky that we are still alive today because it could have easily ended in tragedy. He evidently tried to kill us.”

He was left with knife wounds in the back and his brother in the arm but the cuts were not deep. 

He refused to call himself a hero, saying only that he did what he thought was right at that moment.

“He was on my property, attacking my clients and damaging my property, so it’s the least I could have done.”

Asked whether the man looked drunk, the restaurateur said he was “evidently on something”.

He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital for observation.

Duty Magistrate Leonard Caruana is leading an inquiry and the police are investigating.

Call for more police presence

St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg yesterday said the local council was still expecting Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà to keep his word and introduce a special police squad for Paceville, especially in the early hours of the morning.

Tuesday’s attack followed an equally serious incident on Monday night when four men were injured during a fight in which a sword and glass objects were used.

A 36-year-old Libyan, a 24-year-old Iranian, a 28-year-old Briton and another unidentified man were injured. Another five people, all foreign nationals, are helping the police in their investigations.

“We need our residents and visitors to feel safe. It’s becoming like the wild west,” the mayor said when contacted.

Sources close to the police said that, while the police presence in Paceville has been on the increase, the police cannot be in every bar and restaurant.