Two women remanded in custody for violent resistance towards arresting police officers

Two women have been remanded in custody in connection with separate incidents of violent resistance towards arresting police officers on Sunday night.

In the first of the two separate arraignments before duty magistrate Charmaine Galea on Tuesday, Zsanett Balzan, 36, a Hungarian Mgarr resident pleaded not guilty to charges of having been drunk and incapable of taking care of herself in a public place, disobeying legitimate police orders, violently resisting the police, insulting and assaulting officers, slightly injuring them, breaching the peace and breaching a previous set of bail conditions.

Balzan pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her lawyer, Marco Ciliberti, requested bail.

Police Inspector Ryan Vella, prosecuting, objected to her release, on the grounds of the serious nature of the incident. “Not only did the defendant refuse to cooperate with the police or obey their orders, she also harmed them. Moreover, there is also a civilian witness and there is risk of the defendant communicating with her,” Vella said.

He explained how the St. Paul’s Bay police station had received a phone call at 8:15pm on May 14 from the owner of a bar, who requested assistance. 

The owner told the police that he had resorted to closing the bar because the woman had been creating a disturbance. She refused to give her details to the police officers and had kicked one of the officers in the face while being escorted to the police station for her own safety, the inspector said.

Ciliberti suggested that the evidence would have been preserved on the police officers’ bodycams. He added that the defendant is the mother of two young children who are currently being taken care of by a third party because her estranged husband was not allowed access to them.

The court asked the woman where the children had been at the time of the incident. She replied that they had been at her friend’s house.

The lawyer explained that the woman was struggling with alcoholism and was already under a treatment and supervision order, imposed after a previous, “very recent” incident.

After the magistrate retired to chambers to consider the bail request in light of the evidence, the woman tried to speak to the inspector.  “I was angry because my phone and documents were in my bag…I was so nervous and I exploded,” she said, tearfully.

When the sitting resumed the court rejected her bail request. The magistrate explained that the fact that Balzan was already on bail and had been found guilty of identical charges in 2020 did not provide reassurance that she would abide by her bail conditions.

A second woman, Marta Iavorscaia, 33, from Moldova was also arraigned on Tuesday, accused by Inspector Roderick Agius of having violently resisted the police, threatening officers in the course of their duties, as well as disobeying their lawful orders. She was further charged with slightly injuring a female police officer, breaching the peace and breaching a probation order.

The court was told that the police had been called after she had turned up at her ex-partner’s residence.

Galea said it was the woman’s ex-partner himself who had engaged him to defend her. “Although there might have been some form of friction, given the late hour of her visit…when the ex-partner reflected, he clearly wanted to help her.”

Lavorscaia initially pleaded guilty to the charges but changed her plea after the magistrate informed her that she was potentially facing imprisonment for up to 2 years on three of the charges against her, as well as a fine of €4000 to €10,000.

Defence lawyer Robert Galea then requested bail for the defendant, but Inspector Agius objected, pointing to the fact that a police constable had been injured in the line of duty and that the defendant was not provided the police with her address, only telling them that she had moved to Żebbug, ten days prior.

Galea submitted that there was no risk of the defendant tampering with the evidence as the witnesses were all police officers, with whom the defendant had no contact. 

She was also the mother of a two-year-old child, who would suffer without its mother, he added.

The lawyer also explained that the woman had not yet learned her new address, as she had only recently moved into it. 

The court, after hearing the submissions and taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, the serious nature of the charges and the woman’s previous convictions, rejected the bail request.