A 21-year-old student was handed down a suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer while drunk.

Barbara Kriskova, born in Czech Republic, but currently on holiday in Malta, was charged with assaulting police officers and being drunk in public.

The young woman was found under the influence of alcohol on the stairs of a private apartment at three o'clock this morning. When taken to the police station, Ms Kriskova assaulted a woman officer, biting her arm. She also threatened two other officers.

Subsequently, she was arraigned in court, where she told Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras that she was so drunk that she does not remember what she did, insisting that she never intended to harm the officials.

The magistrate warned her that attacking a police officer is a serious crime and that people have gone to prison over it.

Noting her admission, the court handed down a seven-month sentence suspended for eighteen months and fined her €5,000. 

Inspector Godwin Scerri led the prosecution.