A Polish man accused of a gruesome murder in Poland, and who was caught in Valletta before being extradited to his native country, assaulted prison officers and injured one of them with a shard of glass, Polish media report.

Cajetan Poznanski was arrested at Valletta City Gate in February and was extradited within days after he did not contest the European arrest warrant proceedings in the Maltese law courts.

Poznanski is wanted for questioning on the murder of a 30-year-old woman on 3 February. The woman, identified only as Catherine (Katarzyna J), was Mr Poznanski’s Italian teacher. He is understood to have baited her into giving him lessons in Italian and then killed her at her apartment with a Samurai sword.

Poznanski escaped from Poland and travelled to Germany and Italy before taking a ferry to Malta on 9 February, and he was caught here a few days later. 

On Monday, Poznanksi was reported to have attacked the prison officers, including a psychologist, at the forensic psychiatry ward. He was immediately overpowered by other people in the cell at the time.