Man kneels before magistrate in gratitude after dodging prison sentence

A Ghanian man who admitted to resisting and slightly injuring a policeman, today fell to his knees in court and thanked the magistrate for sparing him a prison sentence.

Yaw Akaadom, 35, who lives in a homeless shelter, made the theatrical gesture this morning after his arraignment before magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona. 

Inspector Robert Vella charged the man with violently resisting a police officer at the homeless shelter at around 8:00pm last night, slightly injuring the officer and threatening him. He was also accused of disobeying police orders and being drunk in public and breaching the peace.

Akaadom had assaulted a policeman who had been dispatched to deal with reports of a drunken disturbance at the Birkirkara shelter.


Akaadom admitted the charges.

In view of his guilty plea, the court sentenced the man to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for one year, together with a fine of €4,000.

Lawyer Joe Ellis, appearing as legal aid to the accused, asked for time to allow man to pay the fine, asking that the accused be released from custody to allow him to earn the money.

Inspector Vella objected to this on the grounds that the man had no fixed address. Although he told the police that he lived at a homeless shelter, the staff there hadn't known about him when the police had inquired about him, the inspector explained.

The court gave the Akaadom six months in which to find a job, after which he would be required to pay €133 per month towards the fine.

“Should the accused miss one payment, the whole amount would become due,” the court decreed, warning the accused “if you don't pay, then you will have to make good for the balance in prison at €35 per day.”

As the realisation of the lifeline he had just been thrown dawned on him, Akaadom fell to his knees in the dock, saying “God bless you, God bless you.”