Hussen Abdi Rahman Hassan, a Somalia-born 25-year-old living in the Marsa Open Centre, was found guilty of threatening a police officer on 13 December 2014.
The Court, predided by Magistrate Doreen Clarke, considered the accused’s clean conviction sheet as well as the circumstances which led to the incident. The court found the defendant guilty of the charges brought against him and condemned him to six months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and to a €4,000 fine to be paid within 6 months. Failure to make payment within the time limit will result in 115 days imprisonment.
He was also charged with resisting arrest, causing bodily harm to the officer, disobeying police orders, using obscene language, disturbing the peace and being found drunk in a public place.
A police officer testified that the police acted on a report by a woman, who said that a drunk African man was being a nuisance and was challenging anyone who came his way.
Police Officer Christopher Debono explained to the Court that he went on site. When he approached the accused he ordered him to lower his voice and not to shout, but, rather than obey, the accused continued shouting and told the police officer to kill him; the accused also addressed the police officer as ”you ******* police”. Officer Debono asked the accused (who appeared to the police officer to be drunk) to throw away the carton (full of wine) and the glass out of which he was drinking in a bin but the accused refused; more than that he continued shouting and using abusive language. At that stage the officer managed to take the carton and glass from the accused and threw them away.
He also asked the accused to go to the Police station with him but the accused refused and all efforts to lead the accused to the police station proved futile. At a point while the officer was trying to lead the accused to the police station, the accused turned to punch the officer, so the police officer tried to handcuff him in order to be able to take him to the station without further incidents. However the accused resisted the police officer and, in the scuffle that ensued, the police officer hurt his shoulder but managed to handcuff the accused just as other officers arrived on site to assist him. The accused was then taken to the station where he refused to give his particulars.
The accused was then taken to the Floriana Health centre and was certified to be suffering from the effects of intoxication.
The accused admitted to being drunk and originally said that he went to the station, asking to be arrested, however later admitted that it was the police officer who took him to the station.
The court decreed that he not only resisted the police officer when he was trying to arrest him, but also used active force (when he tried to punch him) which resulted in a scuffle in the course of which officer slightly injured his shoulder.