A man, suspected of stabbing another man during a violent brawl at an Msida bar on Tuesday night was remanded in custody on Thursday. 

Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, a 31-year-old Somali, living at Ħamrun, was arrested after the fight which allegedly took place at a bar in Triq il-Magna tas-Serrar, at 10.20pm.

The injured man, an Ethiopian national, had turned up at the district police station to report that he had been stabbed in a fight. 

He was hospitalised, while the suspect aggressor was tracked down and arrested. 

The man was escorted to court on Thursday, pleading not guilty to grievously injuring the other man with a sharp and pointed instrument, without intending to kill or place the victim’s life in manifest danger, during the accidental brawl as well as breaching the peace. 

The accused pleaded not guilty.

A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution in view of the man’s criminal record. 

In fact, Mohamed had faced prosecution over another knife attack on a fellow migrant at Marsa, in 2017. 

Legal aid lawyer Yanika Bugeja argued that the man had a fixed job in Malta and had settled down here. Denying bail would effectively mean that the accused risked losing his job, the lawyer argued. 

However, after weighing those submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, turned down the request for bail in view of the accused’s criminal record and the fact that the alleged victim was still to testify. 

Inspector Jonathan Ransley prosecuted.