Man who kicked police officer during arrest gets suspended sentence

A young man from Chile was charged with disrupting the public peace and resisting arrest as the court heard how he kicked a police officer to avoid getting into the police car.

Cristobal Emiliano Valenzuela Caucoto, 20, living in San Gwann, was involved in a verbal argument on 3 March at around 5:15am in St Julian’s.

Police were called on site due to noise complaints and tried to separate the four youngsters from getting into a physical tangle.

Caucoto started threatening the police officers and did not obey police orders when he was asked to leave.

“He was being difficult. He refused to obey orders and hurled verbal abuse at police officers. When we arrested him, he resisted us, and then he kicked a police officer, slightly injuring him, when he was being put in the police car,” prosecuting inspector Joseph Scerri told the court.

The 20-year-old pleaded guilty and the prosecution and defence counsel Raisa Colombo approached the bench and spoke to magistrate Gabriella Vella out of earshot of the press.

After some deliberation and after the defence spoke at length to Caucoto, the court condemned the Chilean to nine months in prison suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of €1,080 by 6 March.