Magistrate Joe Mifsud has come down hard on a man who physically attacked a police inspector in court.
Inspector Kylie Borg suffered bruises to her arm after the man, who was being charged with domestic violence at the time, violently grabbed her and launched into a tirade of insults directed towards the inspector, threatening to kill her, whilst accusing the presiding magistrate of being cruel and not knowing what she was doing.
In a 43-page judgment quoting a panoply of legal, philosophical and religious sources, the magistrate found the man guilty and sentenced him to imprisonment for two years together with a fine of €5,000. He will also be treated for anger management as well as drug addiction.
“I’m taking you off the streets so you don’t end up in the grave,” said the magistrate, before quoting a poem by Mother Theresa.
The man’s lawyer, Michael Tanti Dougall, gave notice of appeal.
The court noted that in his submissions on punishment, Tanti Dougall had highlighted a number of sentences given by Mifsud himself, which had highlighted social issues and invited it to reflect on them when passing sentence.
But the Court said it didn’t want police to be demoralised. “An attack on a police officer is an attack on society,” commented the magistrate. He said that the accused might not like the sentence, but that it was for his own good.
