A man who punched a drunken Somali man and then flung him “like a sack” into the sea at Mġarr harbour almost two years ago was jailed for two years by a court, declaring that he clearly intended to grievously injure the victim and not simply bring him back to his senses. 

Deelian Mifsud, a 23-year-old Xewkija resident, had been captured on footage, later handed to Times of Malta, as he threw the man, who was at the centre of a brawl with third parties, into the water on that July night at around 1am. 

The victim had been ordered out of a bar at Mġarr when some sort of argument broke out.

A group of persons began to punch the Somali man who was also pushed about by a bouncer as the commotion shifted across the road, away from the bar towards the jetty. 

Eyewitnesses said that some “Arabs” had also turned upon the victim. 

At one point, the accused, later identified as the man wearing a white top, walked up to the victim, flung a punch and moved away.

But the argument between the Somali man and third parties continued. 

Suddenly, the accused stood up, pushed aside a table and a skip, headed to the victim, grabbed him by the chest and pushed him into the water “like a sack”, eyewitnesses explained. 

Mifsud himself admitted in his statement that he wanted to stop the Somali man from stirring further trouble.

He thought that by throwing him into the sea, the drunken man would come to his senses, saying that “you cannot reason with someone who is drunk”.

In fact when “he [the victim] came out of the water… he was slightly better”, added Mifsud. 

He confessed that it had not crossed his mind that the other man might not be able to swim or might have been injured by the boats. 

When delivering judgment, the court, presided over by Magistrate Simone Grech, stated that the footage captured only the “climax” of the incident, namely when the accused threw the victim into the sea. 

That footage was corroborated by the eyewitnesses’ accounts. 

The video clearly showed how Mifsud had gone up to the victim, angrily grabbed him by the chest and “quickly and agitatedly” flung him into the water. 

The victim was then left there all alone when he was in no state to swim, if he could swim at all. 

A person who witnessed the entire incident testified that before that climax, the victim had threatened to kill the accused’s family.

No doubt that when Mifsud threw the Somali “like a sack” he was angry, observed the magistrate. 

The court could not believe the accused when he said that he only meant to bring the other man to his senses. 

The accused’s intention was clearly to cause him grievous harm and to scare him.

The accused fell short of completing the offence only because the victim ended up in the sea against his will. 

When all was considered, the court declared the accused guilty of attempted grievous bodily harm and breaching public peace. 

The prosecution, however, failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the injuries suffered by the victim had been caused by the accused since the Somali had been fighting with third parties and was so drunk that he fell and injured his elbow right before a policeman. 

Nor was it proved that the accused had willfully damaged the victim’s phone.

The accused was also found guilty of relapsing and breaching probation.

The court condemned Mifsud to an effective two-year jail term and ordered him back before the Court of Criminal Appeal which had handed down the probation order, to receive sentence there. 

He was also placed under a restraining order and made to pay €281.40 in court expenses. 

Inspector Josef Gauci prosecuted. Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb were parte civile lawyers. Antonio Depasquale was defence lawyer.