Three club security guards have been jailed after a court found that they had unleashed “their animal instincts” on a clubber who was “beaten to a pulp”.
Judgment was delivered against 31-year old Ukrainian Yermakov Mykhailo, 53-year-old Bulgarian Stepan Stankov and 26-year old Serb Dorde Dudic, over the assault at a St Paul’s Bay club in the early hours of February 16, 2020.
The incident was sparked when Dudic attempted to flirt with the girlfriend of the victim, an African national. A fourth man also involved in the fracas is still being sought by the police.
The three guards, two of whom were employed by the club while the third was working for a private security company, were accused of grievously injuring their victim and his fellow national.
CCTV footage led Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech to conclude that while Stankov had dealt the initial blows, Dudic came across as the “most aggressive,” whilst Yermakov held the victim by the throat while Stankov beat him.
That footage provided “graphic evidence of all of the three accused’s ferociousness, brutality and uninhibited callousness,” said the court.
The victim ended up with a permanent three-centimetre scar above his left eye inflicted with a small, sharp knife by Stankov.
The court heard that when the victim sought to confront his aggressors, repeatedly going back for an explanation for their “wanton attack,” the dose of savagery escalated and he was punched and kicked senseless three times over.
The aggressors claimed in court they had acted in self-defence and that they had been provoked, but the court concluded that the evidence proved otherwise.
It was true that the victim had bitten Dudic on the leg as he kneeled on the ground, the court said. But that was a reaction to the violence he was being subjected to.
In light of such evidence the accused “have no place in the community,” said Magistrate Frendo Dimech, adding that all three men were “a real threat to society.”
She condemned Stankov to a jail term of 5 years 4 months, Yermakov to a jail term of one year and a fine of €2500 and Dudic to 18 months imprisonment.
The court also placed the accused under a 3-year restraining order, whilst ordering Stankov to pay €5000 to the victim by way of compensation.
The court noted that the accused never showed remorse or compassion.
They, therefore, should be “taken out of circulation until society is assured of their rehabilitation,” said the magistrate.
The magistrate ordered copies of the judgment to be sent to Jobsplus and the police for investigation into breaches of employment laws by the security guards and for the identification of the fourth man involved in the assault.
Inspector Clayton Camilleri prosecuted.