A plane flying to Catania on Monday turned back to Malta after a passenger refused to wear a face-mask, resulting in her arrest.

A court heard this afternoon how Freya Angeolova Moutafova, a 24-year-old Italian national resident in Bulgaria, boarded the Air Malta flight at 6am and, soon after take-off, got into an argument with a crew member who insisted that she had to wear a face-mask for the flight.

The woman however refused, in spite of being warned of the possible health risk she posed to all those on board the flight.

As a result, the captain turned the plane around and landed back in Malta, alerting the police.

The unruly passenger was later escorted to court under arrest where she admitted to having disobeyed the instructions of the crew members.

She was sentenced to a six-month jail term suspended for two years.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech gave the woman a stern warning, noting that her behaviour had posed a risk to all fellow passengers and crew and could not be tolerated.

Inspector Hubert Gerada prosecuted.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace was defence counsel.