A police sergeant was yesterday jailed for four months for slightly injuring a French woman on 10 May in Paceville.

Magistrate Silvio Meli jailed David Sant, 46, a police sergeant who has been in the Police Force for 20 years, after he found him guilty of slightly injuring a 56-year-old French woman, Catherine Sophie Pernot Sprangers, and committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.

Police Sergeant Sant – who had recently left the Special Assignment Group within the Police Force and was stationed at the St Julian’s police station – testified that on the day in question, he was informed about a traffic accident in which a trailer had collided into the Baystreet bridge in St Julian’s.

He said that once the collision was solved, a tourist coach was still blocking the road to traffic because the driver was worried that a patch of tarmac had not dried yet. Mr Sant said that in order to make it easier for the coach to manoeuvre, he decided to order the cars behind the coach to reverse.

Mr Sant said one of these cars was being driven by Ms Sprangers who refused to reverse and instead hooted her horn relentlessly. He said he walked to the car and inserted his hand through the car window to stop her from honking her horn but instead she scratched his arm.

Eventually the coach drove off and he called for a policewoman after he decided to arrest the French woman for disobeying his orders. In order to ensure that Ms Sprangers did not leave the scene before the female police constable arrived, he opened the driver’s door of the woman’s car and that was when she turned “hysterical”.

Mr Sant said he had his mobile in one hand and Ms Sprangers got hold of his other arm and tried closing it in the car door. He said that without wanting to, he raised his arm and knees together, hitting her with his knee in the process. “I did it to defend myself from further assault,” he told the court.

He said the French woman claimed she was injured and he called for an ambulance to come on scene. However, when the ambulance arrived, the woman refused medical assistance and soon after drove off.

Mr Sant explained that some four days prior to this incident, he had been scratched by a woman who he was restraining as she was trying to commit suicide. He later learnt that she suffered from Hepatitis C and was examined to see whether he had contracted the disease.

He said that some time ago he underwent heart surgery and had stopped smoking and was more nervous that usual. Referring to the photographs and video shown on the media, Mr Sant said that this only showed a few minutes of an incident that dragged on for between 20 and 30 minutes.

“I have been in the Police Force for 20 years and I never intended to tarnish the reputation of the force. I’m very sorry for what happened,” Mr Sant told the court.

Ms Sprangers also testified during yesterday’s sitting after being warned that whatever she said may be used as evidence against her since the police are planning to take criminal action against her too.

At one point during her testimony, Magistrate Meli told her to look at him while testifying instead of at the interpreter but she refused to do so saying that she had to face the person she was addressing. Magistrate Meli then warned her that he will have her arrested if she pursued this behaviour to which she replied that she was not a criminal and that she was not the accused.

She went on to explain that she was stuck in traffic and was hooting her horn just like the other cars. She said the police sergeant told her something but she did not understand him because of the language barrier. She said that as she was trying to light a cigarette, the sergeant grabbed the packet and she tried taking it back from him. Soon after, he kicked her in the chest and she lost consciousness, she said.

She said she drove off and called a doctor the following day. Later, she and a friend went to the police station to file a report but was told that the person responsible was not there. She went another three times, only to be told the same thing and then gave up on filing this report.

Replying to questions under cross-examination, the woman denied ever scratching the police sergeant.

Handing down his judgement later on during yesterday’s sitting, Magistrate Meli said that it was evident that Mr Sant was under physical and mental stress and his superiors should have noticed this and should have told him to stay home.

The magistrate also said that Mr Sant, having spent 12 years in the Special Assignment Group, should have known better in the circumstances and therefore refused the line of defence that Mr Sant was acting out of provocation.

The magistrate jailed Mr Sant, who was flanked by his daughter and nephew, for four months. The defence immediately informed the court that it was planning to appeal the judgement.

Police Inspector Martin Sammut prosecuted while Dr Jason Azzopardi and Dr Kris Busietta appeared for the police sergeant.