Two men, on opposing sides in fight, win compensation for injuries

A boathouse owner, beaten with a two-metre iron chain by a neighbour after complaining about an inconvenience caused by dirty water collecting in a puddle outside his property, was awarded almost €6,000 in damages, while one of his opponents was awarded €8,190 after being punched in the face during the same incident. The incident happened in September 2010. Mario Vella, 62, had one evening approached the owner of a neighbouring boathouse in St Paul’s Bay pointing out the inconvenience. Etienne Fenech, the neighbour, had been washing a boat just outside his own property which was at a slightly elevated level to that of Mr Vella. Consequently, dirty water running down the road, collected in a puddle outside the lower boathouse, ended up being splashed by passing vehicles onto the parked car of Mr Vella’s son. When the disgruntled man approached his neighbour, an argument broke out which soon degenerated into a fight between Mr Vella and his son, on one side and Mr Fenech and his brother-in-law, Antoine Spiteri, on the other. It was in the course of this scuffle that Mr Fenech had allegedly fetched a two-metre iron chain with which he struck his neighbour, later arguing that he had...