Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1019057
NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 AUGUST 2018 MATTHEW AGIUS A Paceville club bouncer has been granted bail after being accused of punching a German reveller so hard he fractured his eye socket. 26-year-old Savo Bogicevic from Bosnia appeared in the dock before duty magistrate Aaron Bugeja yesterday to face charges of grievous bodily harm, starting a fight, breach- ing the peace and working as a private guard without a licence. Senior police inspector Trevor Micallef summoned victim Paul Forderreuther from Germany to the witness stand. Forder- reuther, who was left with two black eyes after the incident, said that he had been at Foot- loose bar when he was escorted out by security. As he was walk- ing with a friend to another bar, the accused allegedly rushed out and punched him in the face, fracturing his eye socket and causing him a partial loss of vision. "I was accused of harassing a woman. I never saw her. I was dancing with four Dutch girls," Forderreuther said. Inspector Micallef asked how he and his friend had been asked to leave. "Gently," he said. In the club the guard had grabbed his arm and said, "You have to go immediately" – "I said to my friend 'let's go to the next bar.' He was just showing us the way out. There was no vi- olence inside the club," Forder- reuther said. The court asked him if he had said anything to the accused. "No, your honour," replied the victim, who was released from hospital yesterday after two days. He is prohibited from fly- ing because of his injury and will have to return home over- land, he said. He said he found a picture of the accused on the club's Face- book profile and pointed him out to the police. A Spanish man who had been with the victim said he was dancing and saw his friend be- ing kicked out by the bouncer. "I went outside with him and we just walked out maybe 20 metres. The bouncer came running out and punched my friend. He kicked him on the floor…" The victim had kissed a girl in the club, he said, but this did not appear to be the cause of the incident. Answering ques- tions by the magistrate, in an effort to establish a motive for the assault, he said there were no barmaids, only male staff. Bail was requested. The police objected, saying Bogicevic pre- sented a high risk of abscond- ing. Defence lawyer David Camill- eri, appearing as legal aid, sub- mitted that there were already inconsistencies in the testimo- ny of the witnesses and that the man should not be refused bail. The court, having seen the stage which the proceedings had reached, granted bail on condition that he stays away from Paceville, signs a bail book daily, surrenders his ID and passport and provide a deposit of €500 together with a person- al guarantee of €10,000. Bail for Paceville bouncer in unprovoked assault VILLAGE feasts are religious occasions and not simply op- portunities to get drunk, a police inspector told a court as she arraigned an off-duty security guard who allegedly punched a policeman in the face at the Zurrieq feast. Reuben Boyce, 46, from Zur- rieq appeared before magis- trate Aaron Bugeja, on charges relating to an incident which occurred at 3am on Saturday morning in St Paul Street, Safi. Boyce is accused of having attacked and slightly injured a police constable, violently re- sisted arrest and disobeyed le- gitimate police orders. He was also charged with having been drunk in public, breaching the peace and relapsing. Boyce's lawyer Dustin Camilleri entered a plea of not guilty. Bail was requested. The prosecution objected to bail. Releasing people who at- tack officers would be counter- productive, said the inspector. "The police are there to keep order and not to be insulted, threatened or attacked. It's not the way forward." Camilleri argued that the man should be released on bail because he is presumed inno- cent, was the main breadwin- ner of his family and would certainly not want to abscond or get into further trouble. "This was an isolated inci- dent, he is not a habitual crimi- nal," said the lawyer. Inspectors Josric Mifsud and Charlotte Curmi contended that the mentality that dur- ing the village feast one can drink and do what one wants had to be tackled. "We must show that the feast period is not a bacchanalian period, but a religious occasion. The mes- sage is not that we can spend a week doing what we want and drinking ourselves silly." The defence warned that the court could not simply make an example of someone who was presumed innocent. Bail was granted against a deposit of €500 and personal guar- antee of €5,500. Boyce was banned from attending feasts until the case is decided. A protection order was issued in favour of the injured officer. Ban for festa yob 26 81 57 22 78 64 62 73 25-08-2018 • Draw No: 738