Man pleads guilty to threatening, resisting police officers in Saturday night Pacevile fracas

A man has admitted to having threatened and violently arrested police officers after he was thrown out of a club in Paceville on Saturday night.

Kevin Borg, 42, of Fgura was arraigned before Magistrate Ian Farrugia, accused of threatening a police inspector and other officers in the line of duty, attacking or violently resisting officers carrying out legitimate orders, damaging property of the Commissioner of Police, disobeying legitimate orders, relapsing, failing to obey conditions imposed by a court decree, as well as committing a crime during the operative period of a suspended sentence he had been handed in February.

Inspector Saviour Baldacchino explained to the magistrate that during the night between 11 and 12 June there had been an argument between two men inside an establishment in Paceville. The men had been bundled out of the club by bouncers, but the altercation had continued outside. Police officers who intervened had been assaulted by the accused, he said.

Borg entered a guilty plea. In her submissions on punishment, Borg’s lawyer, Charmaine Cherrett, told the court that the accused had cooperated fully with the police. Inspector Baldacchino confirmed this and said that he had also apologised for his actions.

The court noted the accused’s admission of guilt, as well as his previous convictions and his statement.

Magistrate Farrugia dismissed the charges of violently resisting arrest and recidivism on the grounds of lack of evidence, finding the man guilty of the rest of the charges against him.

Borg was fined €900 and handed a sentence of imprisonment for one year, suspended for two. The magistrate also restarted the clock on his previous suspended sentence, which he had received in February for theft.

At the request of the defence, the accused was allowed to pay the fine in instalments.