A man who was involved in a fight with a drunk clubber outside a St Paul’s Bay club in 2020 has seen an appeals court shaving four years and four months off his prison sentence after declaring there was not enough evidence to prove it was he who stabbed the victim in the face.

Judge Neville Camilleri said although the evidence was clear that he had inflicted slight injuries on the victim, with punches and kicks, there was no such evidence to prove he had seriously injured him.

He was ruling in an appeal filed by three former bouncers who used to run security at a St Paul’s Bay club who were jailed after the first court had found them guilty of carrying out the savage attack on an African man outside the club. The victim was stabbed in the face during the incident. 

Stepan Stankov, 35, from Bulgaria, had been sentenced to imprisonment for five years and four months. Yermakov Mykhailo, 33, from Ukraine, was jailed for a year for causing slight injury during the same incident, while Dorde Dudic, 29, from Serbia was jailed for 18 months for his part in the attack.

Mykhailo and Stankov were additionally found guilty of working as security officers without a police licence.

The court heard how the incident had taken place outside Babylon Club on February 16, 2020, at 5am. The incident was not racially motivated, the court was told. The accused blamed a fourth person who had fled the scene.

The assault was captured on CCTV, which was exhibited in court.

Victim was punched repeatedly

On appeal, Mr Justice Camilleri said although the footage showed the scale of the assault, it was not clear who had stabbed the victim in the face.

He concluded that the victim was hit by all three “and their behaviour clearly defeats their arguments as to how they tried to restrain the victim.

“Whilst it is true that the victim kept on coming forward, it is also true he could have been restrained without using the degree of violence used. The victim was punched repeatedly and was also kicked. The bite he inflicted on one of the (bouncers) was clearly inflicted in self-defence,” the court ruled.

While confirming the punishment meted to Mykhailo and Dudic, the court said that according to evidence, Stankov was employed as a barman and not a bouncer, so the first court should have given an appropriate punishment. Moreover, the prosecution had not proved to the level required at law that it was he who had inflicted the grievous injury. 

He therefore reduced his jail term to one year.

Inspector Clayton Camilleri prosecuted. Stankov was represented by lawyers Johann Debono, Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri, while lawyer Damien Degiorgio appeared for Dudic. Lawyer Johann Debono also appeared for Mykhailo.