A father and son today were granted bail after the court heard how a police sergeant was knocked out cold, while others were slightly injured for trying to break up a fight which took place during a wedding reception.

Carmelo and Bernard Zammit, father and son respectively, from Tarxien, were accused of different charges for the role they each played in injuring the officers.

Bernard Zammit was charged with with attacking officers, causing slight injury, voluntarily damaging the property of the authorities and breaching public peace. His father was charged with violently resisting police officers and obstruction of justice.

The incident took place on 6 August 2017 at 1am during a wedding. The court heard how Bernard Zammit was having a rowdy argument with his brother. A sergeant on sight attempted to intervene and stop the pair, however this resulted in Zammit junior knocking out cold sergeant Lambert Ferdinand. At this stage police constable Alan Dougall intervened, which is when Zammit senior attacked the constable. Prosecuting inspector Charlotte Curmi also told the court how the sergeant’s spectacles had been broken.

The pair pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them, while their lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace put forward a request for bail. He remarked that there were no civilian witnesses to be heard, to which the police did not object.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, presiding over the case, commented that the police are there to protect the public and not get injured by rowdy people. Despite this, she granted them bail on the condition that they sign a logbook each week, do not leave the country, deposit identification documents with the courts, do not approach any witnesses and deposit €500 each against a personal guarantee of €2,000 each.