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2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2016 News Qormi baker charged with attempted murder in Labour club stabbing A court has turned down a request for bail for a man charged in connection with Sunday's stabbing at the Labour Party club in Qormi because it felt the accused could not offer the guarantees required by law A man has been remanded in custody after he was charged in connection with Sunday's stab- bing at the Labour Pary club in Qormi. 46-year-old Alfred Galea, a baker from Qormi, was ar- raigned under arrest before Magistrate Anthony Vella this afternoon, charged with at- tempted murder and grievous bodily harm. Law yers Giannella De Marco and Gianluca De Marco, appear- ing as defence counsel to Galea, entered not guilty pleas to six charges in total: attempted mur- der, grievous bodily harm, car- rying a knife in public without police permission, breaching the peace, threatening and insulting the victim and relapsing. The relapsing charge comes as a result of a 2014 conviction for stabbing a man at his bakery. That year, Galea had also been acquitted of grievously injur- ing a 68-year-old man in a 2008 argument over parking, due to conf licting evidence. Today Inspector Roderick Agius explained that CCTV footage from the political party club showed how the accused had intervened in an argument between two men. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. He objected to bail on the grounds that the accused had previous convictions for violent offences, pointing out that he was accused of a serious crime, stabbing. The victim was in dan- ger of losing his life, added Agi- us and several onlookers had not yet been identified from CCTV. Law yer Giannella De Marco argued that the CCTV clearly showed that the incident had not been caused by the accused, but was an argument between two people. When the stabbing took place, the law yer said, the accused had been pinned to the ground by the victim. He was on the ground in the first place, be- cause the victim had smashed a bottle over the accused 's head, the law yer explained. "A magisterial inquiry is un- derway," argued the law yer. "The majority of the witnesses and the most important ones had al- ready testified. The fact that the victim is still in hospital is not a reason to withhold bail. As far as I know, he is no longer in danger of dying." In spite of his previous con- victions, the accused had not breached any court-imposed conditions, she added. Inspector Agius replied the security footage showed that there had been an argument and that the accused had produced a knife. Some people had tried to hold the antagonists back, but they failed and the victim was stabbed. "The footage lacks audio," said the inspector. "It is important for witnesses to tes- tif y to explain what they heard and what they saw." Some three or four of the people in the shop who had been holding the man back had not been spoken to be- cause the police only know them by their nickname. Despite the defence suggesting that the court could impose con- ditions, prohibiting the accused from approaching the victim or witnesses, the court said it would be turning down the bail request at this time because it felt the accused could not offer the guarantees required by law. Alfred Galea was arraigned under arrest on charges of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm following a stabbing incident at the Labour Pary club in Qormi Police correct in refusing private warden licence to 'public menace' MATTHEW AGIUS A court of appeal has upheld a refus- al to issue a private warden's licence to a man described by the police as a "menace to the public". Presiding the Court of Appeal in its inferior jurisdiction, Mr Justice Anthony Ellul overturned an ear- lier decision by the Administra- tive Review Tribunal which had, in turn, overturned the Commissioner of Police's decision not to issue the man a private warden's licence. The plaintiff, Christopher Galea, had applied for a licence to become a private warden in 2014, but this was rejected by the Police Commission- er on the grounds of public interest. The Commissioner of Police had listed Galea's many run-ins with the law, saying he was a menace to the public. In 2010, the man had been convicted of driving a vehicle without a valid licence. A year later, he was found guilty of threatening, verbally abusing and obstructing police officers in the performance of their duties, also being found guilty of swearing in public and of disturb- ing the public peace. A year after that, in 2012, Galea was convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and was also found guilty of failing to inform Transport Malta of having changed his vehi- cle's colour. After the Police Commissioner's refusal, Galea had applied to the Administrative Review Tribunal seeking a remedy. The tribunal had found for Galea, arguing that the Commissioner should have based himself on the man's criminal con- victions and not on unproven as- sumptions. But the court of appeal decision said the Commissioner of Police had been right all along. The profession of a private warden carried with it many responsibilities, the court said. By refusing the man a licence in the particular circumstances, the Commissioner had been acting the public interest, the court ruled. The court upheld the Police Com- missioner's appeal, confirming the refusal to issue Galea a private war- den licence. Hunter's compensation claim for eye injury filed too late MATTHEW AGIUS A claim for damages filed by a hunter who was hit in the eye by shotgun pellets fired by a fellow hunter has been declared time-barred by the courts. 55-year-old Carmelo Vel- la filed civil proceedings against Stanley Cardona over a 2004 accident that occurred in a field at tal- Handaq, limits of Qormi. Vella had declared that ear- ly in the morning of 9 April 2005, he had been hunting in his field at Handaq when he had been struck in the left eye, head and chest by lead shot fired by Cardona, who was hunting in an adjacent field. Doctors had decided not to remove the shotgun pellets that had embedded themselves in Vella's body due to fears that this could cause the man to suffer fur- ther injury. The man insisted that he could no longer work as a result of the injuries and was afraid the lead shot would cause him health problems in future. Cardona, who is now 39, ar- gued that the claim for dam- ages was time-barred. Vella had filed the case for damag- es nine years and 10 months after the incident took place. Judge Silvio Meli noted that although Cardona had admitted to causing the in- jury before another court, and had been handed a pun- ishment far below the maxi- mum for it, Vella had filed his case too late and the court therefore had no op- tion but to declare the action extinct.