Man pleads guilty to spitting in police sergeant's face

A man from Birkirkara has been handed a suspended sentence and a €2,000 fine after he admitted to spitting in a police officer’s face at the local police station.

Dressed in an oversized blue hoodie, Eugenio Lanzon,33, was brought before magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit under arrest this morning, accused of committing an offence against a public officer who was carrying out his duties, disobeying and attempting to interfere in police orders, failing to wear an anti-Covid face mask in public and breaching the peace.

The accused had spat in a police sergeant’s face at the Birkirkara police station, where he had allegedly been brought in for being drunk and disorderly in public.

The defence told the court that the incident had taken place at the police station, adding that the man’s mask had been torn during the ensuing arrest.

Prosecuting inspector Andrew Agius did not insist on a prison sentence but asked for any fine imposed to be above the minimum. A restraining order in favour of the sergeant in question was also requested.

The court, noting that the accused had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and that the lesser charges were absorbed in, the more serious one, handed Lanzon a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, together with a fine of €2,000. A restraining order was also issued.

As this was explained to the accused, he told the court that he only earns €800 a month and has three children to maintain. His lawyer asked the court to allow him some time to pay the fine. The Court granted him three years to do so.