She made a scene, calling the prosecuting inspector a liar, when she was taken to court yesterday for compilation of evidence in the case against her.

The woman, who cannot be named due to a court order, had been summoned to court in May and charged with abandoning and severely neglecting her young daughter. She was arrested after police staked out her current Birkirkara residence because she was not going to the police station for her mandatory daily signing.

Inspector Joseph Spiteri took the stand yesterday and said the woman was not appearing for her daily signing at Birkirkara police station. He said that at 9.30am on Sunday, he went to her Birkirkara residence and although a balcony door was open and he could hear voices inside, no one answered the door when he knocked.

The inspector left a constable to watch the house and after a while a man walked out. The man told the police man he did not know the woman he (the inspector) was looking for.

After while longer, the woman emerged and was arrested on the spot. In court yesterday, she started shouting and calling the inspector a liar. Presiding Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera reprimanded her for her behaviour and said: “These are not things which are done in a courtroom.”

The court began hearing evidence in the case against the woman in May, just after she was summoned. After the first sitting, she was nowhere to be found and Magistrate Scerri Herrera ordered her arrest.

At the time, the woman was not arrested, because she appeared at the police station of her own volition after reading reports in the media that she was wanted. However, according to the inspector, she failed to sign daily at Birkirkara police station, as she was ordered to do when she reappeared in court, and she was therefore arrested. The case continues.