Brothers charged with punch-up over ponies

Two men have been denied bail after they were arrested and charged in connection with an apparently vicious brawl over pony racing.

Brothers Matthew and Ryan Debattista, aged 26 and 24 respectively, appeared before magistrate Francesco Depasquale this morning, charged with various public order offences.

Inspector Roderick Agius explained that the two brothers, who co-owned a pony that had come up short in a race, had insisted that the winning pony had benefited from an unpunished false start

A fight erupted between Matthew Debattista and the other racers and was broken up by the police, only to resume once the men left the racecourse.

One man was seriously injured in the brawl.

An hour after the race, and alerted to the fact that his pony's honour had been tarnished, Ryan Debattista made his way to the racecourse to remonstrate with the race organiser. There, he ended up slightly injuring the winning jockey's brother.

“Tellieqa bil-ponijiet spiċċat bil-ponnijiet.” quipped the magistrate.

The elder of the two brothers, Matthew Debattista, was charged with seriously injuring a man and slightly injuring another after the owner of the winning pony jibed that he “had passed him and will pass him again.”

The brothers both pleaded not guilty and requested bail.

However, the prosecution objected to bail for Matthew Debattista on the grounds that indispensable prosecution witnesses included a child and an elderly woman.

“He could easily bump into them as they both frequent the racecourse,” the inspector said, adding that the accused was “not trustworthy” and indeed had a previous conviction for causing grievous injury under his belt, a crime for which he had received a suspended sentence.

Ryan Debattista, whose charges included resisting arrest, insulting and injuring police officers and disobeying police orders, had also breached the conditions of two suspended sentences.

“When one looks at his record, he has a colourful past despite his tender age,” said the Inspector.

Police at the scene were informed that one of the brothers had been asking around for his opponents' home addresses.

Lawyer Noel Bianco, appearing on behalf of the men, argued that Ryan had been called up and told that his brother was being beaten up and that he had returned to the racecourse to defend him.

“The language used in Marsa is colourful, almost a dialect,” Bianco said. “The practise of arraigning only one person in connection with a fight is hard to understand,” said the lawyer.

The court ordered that the men be remanded in custody.