A man who was allegedly involved in a fist fight with his estranged wife’s new boyfriend was granted bail on Tuesday.

The fight  took place on Sunday night after the Sannat village feast in Gozo.

The 33-year old Xewkija resident, currently going through a marital separation, was arrested at about 3.30am after an argument with his ex and her new boyfriend got out of control.  

Shortly before the incident, the accused had allegedly been involved in a verbal spat with his ex on the phone. 

The man, whose identity is not being revealed so as to safeguard the identity of his alleged victims, pleaded not guilty to grievously injuring his wife’s boyfriend, disturbing the peace and threatening and insulting his ex.

He also denied misuse of electronic communications equipment and harassment.

A request for bail was objected to mainly in view of civilian witnesses who still have to testify.

However defence lawyer Franco Debono countered that the accused had an almost clean conduct sheet and also enjoyed the support of his ex’s family. In fact, his father-in-law was present in at the hearing, pointed out the lawyer.

Moreover, the accused had reacted to insults and provocation by his alleged victims, argued Debono, further noting that the woman’s boyfriend might well have been hit by one of the people who had intervened to break up the fight.

Magistrate Simone Grech upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €6,000, signing the bail book twice weekly and a curfew between 10.30pm and 5am.

The court warned the accused not to approach the prosecution witnesses and issued a Protection Order in favour of the alleged victims.

Inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri prosecuted