Homeless man resists police officers, creates courtroom ruckus

Homeless man, 27, resists being handcuffed and taken to Corradino prisons.

A young homeless man, Luke Bugeja, 27, created a commotion in the law courts as he kicked and head-butted two police inspectors, while three constables attempted to put handcuffs to his wrists.

The incident developed this afternoon in the law courts as Bugeja refused to be taken to prison after he was denied bail by Magistrate Consuelo Herrera on charges of violently resisting arrest and slightly injuring a constable at the Sliema police station, last Monday.

During his arraignment, Bugeja claimed to have been harassed by the police, who refused to assist him. But it transpired through evidence that the accused had flung a punch at the Orderly Constable at the police station, after he was informed that the inspector was not at the police station to sign a paper he needed to present to the Department of the Social Services, and the Employment Training Corporation.

The Sliema incident happened just hours after he had been given a conditional discharge by Magistrate Neville Camilleri, when he was charged with smashing the CCTV cameras at Dar Suret il-Bniedem in Paola.

Soon after this morning's sitting was over, Bugeja was ushered out of Herrera's courtroom, where he assaulted his police escort when he refused to be handcuffed.

Bugeja was originally cuffed to a constable's wrist, but after complaining his handcuffs were removed. It was here that he started to resist having both hands cuffed, shouting and kicking a police inspector to the ground, prompting other police officers to assist their colleagues.

Another police inspector, James Grech, rushed to assist but was head-butted by Bugeja as he tried to calm him down. Bugeja attempted to resist the police as he was being taken down to the lock-up beneath the law courts. He could be heard shouting in the lift as he was taken downstairs to the lock-up cells until he was transferred to Corradino.