Qormi man assault published on TikTok, court told

A 60-year-old man from Qormi has been remanded in custody after he was accused of seriously injuring his brother during a heated argument, believed to be over an inheritance.

He was arraigned before Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia on Monday.

Leonard Pace was charged with grievous bodily harm, uttering insults and threats towards his brother and breaching the public peace. Inspector Omar Zammit told the court that there was an ongoing disagreement between members of the accused’s family, which had escalated on Saturday, when the incident in question had happened.

Pace denied the charges. His lawyer Roberto Montalto requested bail, to which the prosecution strongly objected due to the serious nature of the charges and the fear of tampering with evidence.

A number of witnesses were yet to testify in this case, said the inspector.

Montalto told the court that videos of this incident had even been uploaded on social media platform Tik Tok, arguing that this meant that there was no risk of the evidence being erased.

The lawyer told the court that the victim had sought out the accused to provoke him. The prosecution retorted that the videos clearly showed that it was the accused who had assaulted the victim.

The court rejected the request for bail at this stage.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri are representing the alleged victim.