After spending nine months in prison, court overturns assault conviction

A Romanian national spent nine months in prison before he was released when his assault conviction was revoked

A man who was remanded in preventive custody for nine months despite appealing his conviction, was released today after an appeals court overturned his sentence for assaulting a policeman.

Florinel Nitu had been convicted of having assaulted a policeman who intervened following a disturbance in St Paul's Bay.

Nitu, 47, born in Romania and residing in Bugibba, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment in October 2015 for resisting arrest, slightly injuring his neighbour and breaching the peace in an incident which occurred in 2014.

Nitu’s lawyer, Roberto Montalto had immediately filed an appeal. The Romanian was still remanded in preventive custody.

In a judgement handed down earlier today, Madame Justice Edwina Grima quashed the man's conviction for resisting arrest, but confirmed his guilt with regards causing bodily harm to his neighbour.

The man's sentence was revised down from nine months to one-month imprisonment. He was released immediately on account of the time he served in preventive custody.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto was defence counsel.