Flatmates who bit each other's faces escape prison sentence

Two flatmates who bit each other on the face have been warned they were looking at up to nine years in prison if they attacked each other again, after this morning being granted a conditional discharge.

Inspector Charlotte Curmi arraigned Frank Kwaku Ayivi, a 31-year-old mason from the Ivory Coast, and his flatmate, 41-year-old Ghanean carpenter Charles Kesse, before Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona, charging them with grievous bodily harm, assault and threatening each other with knives.

The incident, which took place in the Zabbar flat which the men shared on Monday night at in-Nies Street, Zabbar, was prompted when Kesse had confronted Ayivi, who was refusing to pay for damages he had caused in the flat.

The argument soon deteriorated into a vicious brawl, however, in which both men suffered a series of unusual injuries. Ayivi, who appeared in court with large dressings on his cheek and thumb, was also stabbed in the foot, whilst Kesse suffered bite wounds on his finger, lip and back.

Prompted by defence lawyer Noel Bartolo, the men told the court that they had forgiven each other for the incident.

The magistrate sternly warned the men that they faced up to nine years in jail for the charges, but given the particular circumstances, he was going to conditionally discharge them. Were something similar to occur again there would be no alternative to an effective prison sentence,  said the magistrate, who quipped that he would put them in the same cell to sort out their differences there.

The court handed the pair a three-year conditional discharge, also imposing a three-year protection order against each other.