This is the shocking moment a British tourist brawled with locals at a Maltese hotel after seeing them pulling a woman by the hair and dangling a baby upside down.
Liam Stacey, 29, confronted the group – including three brothers – before one of the men, Roderick Sciortino, slapped him across the face and sent him stumbling over his toddler daughter.
Stacey hit back with a single punch, knocking Sciortino to the ground.
Holidaymakers screamed as the fight spiralled out of control, with video showing fists flying before Sciortino lay unconscious by the poolside.
Sciortino died in hospital from a brain aneurysm on July 31, five days after the fight.
Stacey has been accused of causing grievous bodily harm but denies the charges.
In court, a medical expert said the death was not caused by the blow, describing it instead as a ‘pathological bleed’ that struck at the wrong moment.
Following this revelation Sciortino’s brothers Horace and Nick began to disrupt proceedings, threatening the police and a magistrate.
A British tourist is facing court charges after a man he punched during a booze-fuelled poolside brawl at a Maltese hotel died from an unrelated brain aneurysm
Liam Stacey, 29, was dragged into the altercation after seeing a group of local men, including three brothers, pulling a woman by the hair and disrupting sunbathers
The situation then escalated when one of the men, later identified as Roderick Sciortino, slapped Stacey in the face, causing him to stumble over his toddler daughter, according to a witness
The pair were handed a suspended sentence and fined €7,500 each after they were found guilty by their own admission.
Sciortino’s partner Alexia Meilak told the court that he had a history of health problems.
‘Roderick was unwell. He used to say he had a brain tumour,’ Meilak testified, noting that by the time of the hearing he was already being kept alive by machines in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
During the trial, one witness, British senior police officer Tonya Cook explained how a group of seven to eight Maltese individuals arrived that morning and began to drink heavily.
They had a baby with them and according to Cook were spilling their drinks and even hanging the child upside down.
After having lunch with her husband, Cook returned and found the group taking personal items of the guests from their sunbeds so that they could get loungers where they wanted.
Later on, Cook heard screams coming from the pool and saw one man in red shorts shouting at a woman and pulling her hair.
Footage shows one of the men lying unconscious on the ground after the altercation
The alarming video of the incident at the Seabank Resort and Spa shows three men shouting and throwing punches at each other as ‘terrified’ bystanders scream in horror
Pictured: Roderick Sciortino, who died five days after the brawl
A court-appointed expert said Sciortino’s death was unrelated to the altercation
She also described the water as being full of a woman’s hair and having a strange colour.
Although she and her friends had asked hotel staff to intervene they refused, not wanting to get involved.
Cook then found a crowd around a Maltese man on the floor ‘turning blue’ as well as her friend, an emergency doctor, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him.
She also recalled seeing a man in red shorts running towards the exit, hitting people as he went through and making strange noises.
Although Cook pleaded with hotel staff to lock the doors, they refused since this man was a paying guest.
Cook managed to hold the man and even asked police officers to arrest him. Although he was detained, he was later released once he began to cry.
The police officer also recalled her encounter with Stacey’s partner, Natasha Jerrard, who she described as being ‘absolutely distraught’.
After helping Jerrard to her room, Cook was informed by Stacey that he pushed someone who had punched him.
Scerri stated that no external injuries explain his brain haemorrhage, adding that the bleed was purely pathological and that ‘there was a wrong incident at the wrong moment’
Sciortino’s partner Alexia Meilak told the court that he had a history of health problems
‘Roderick was unwell. He used to say he had a brain tumour,’ Meilak testified, noting that by the time of the hearing he was already being kept alive by machines in the hospital’s intensive care unit
Jerrard also testified that one of the men had come up to, and slapped Stacey, causing him to fall on their two-year-old.
She added that her partner got up and punched the man, who fell on the ground.
Martin Wesley, the partner of Stacey’s mother, also provided testimony and referred to the group of Maltese individuals who were ‘drinking loads’.
According to Wesley, Stacey had told the group to be quiet as they had been upsetting the children.
Following coverage of the incident, hospitality and leisure company the db Group condemned all violence and inappropriate behaviour.
It said: ‘db Group is treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and has launched internal investigation.
‘db Group is fully cooperating with all the relevant authorities to ensure transparency and accountability. In addition, we have also taken other preemptive actions such as strengthening of security measures and a review of our admissions policy. ‘
The added that if it shortcomings from staff members come to light, ‘disciplinary action will be taken without any hesitation.’
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