The victim in a fatal stabbing incident in Marsa last month suffered four deep wounds, one of which punctured his rib cage and pierced his heart right through, a court heard on Tuesday.

Details of the violence emerged in court when proceedings got underway against the alleged aggressor, 28-year-old Sudanese-national Ali Mahy Ezzo Saeed, who was arraigned on July 25 over the incident which took place in Triq Felicjan Bilocca the previous evening.

The accused, who on Tuesday informed the court that he had been staying at a Gżira hotel before the incident, is pleading not guilty to murdering the 21-year-old Egyptian victim who was still unidentified at the time of the suspect’s arraignment.

The victim was given first aid on site but died soon after he was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital.

Saeed also stands charged with the unlicensed possession of a knife, carrying the weapon while committing a crime against the person and breaching public peace. 

The autopsy subsequently revealed that the victim had suffered four deep stab wounds, one of which proved fatal when it punctured his rib cage and went right through his heart, prosecuting Inspector Shaun Pawney said when testifying on Tuesday.

The youth had suffered other injuries, including slash wounds and a fractured rib, as well as "great blood loss".

Blood was splattered over a parking space near a bar in the area where the incident occurred, close to the ramp leading up to December 13 Road. 

An 11-minute footage filmed by a bystander, which caused quite a stir when posted on social media, had captured the aftermath of the fight rather than the fight itself, explained Pawney.

However, a number of eyewitnesses had given their version of the fight which had ended in the stabbing, when testifying before the inquiring magistrate.

One of them, who knew both the victim and the accused, said that he used to go to a nearby garden where other migrants slept.

He said that a verbal argument broke out between the men and then the accused stabbed the victim with a knife.

Another witness, who had gone to the area to shop for food, tried to break up the argument by intervening verbally, but then saw the knife attack and the injured man stagger and collapse, crying out, “my heart! my heart!”

He tried to chase after the aggressor who allegedly brandished the weapon at other persons who ran after him.

He was finally blocked by third parties when he ran into an alley close to the Marsa potato sheds and was soon arrested by the police who were alerted to the aggression by a shop owner. 

The arrest was captured on police body cams.

Later, the man allegedly spoke “spontaneously” about the incident, explaining how he had had an argument with the victim who had pushed him.

He reacted by using the knife, a “reddish” instrument which he handed over to the police.

Asked why a fist fight had spiralled into a knife attack, the man said that he was afraid the other man would hit him. 

An officer from the Immigration Unit explained how original fingerprints of the victim, lifted upon his arrival in Malta among a boatload of migrants in June 2019, enabled investigators to identify him.

The officer said that each new arrival is tagged, photographed, allotted a number and his or her fingerprints taken, explained Inspector Hubert Gerada. 

Those fingerprints, compared to those lifted during the autopsy and run through the police system, returned a match and led to the identification of the victim who was carrying no documents at the time of the aggression. 

As the hearing reached an end, Magistrate Doreen Clarke declared that there was enough prima facie evidence for accused to stand trial on indictment.

The case continues.

Inspector Roderick Spiteri also prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyers Anthony Vella and Ramon Bonett Sladden. Lawyer Jason Grima was defence counsel.