Somali gets suspended sentence for attacking a policeman

The accused was seen being drunk and belligerent before the incident in Marsa in December 2014

A 25-year-old Somali man was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for eighteen, after a court found him guilty of a drunken assault on a police officer who asked him to lower his voice.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke was told how Hussen Abdi Rahman Hassan was seen to be intoxicated and belligerent in the Marsa area on 13 December 2014 when a policeman asked him to lower his voice.

Rather than obey, the accused instead verbally abused the police officer. Hassan also refused to throw away the carton of wine from which he was drinking.

The accused resisted efforts to lead him to the police station, at one point trying to punch the officer. A scuffle ensued as the officer tried to handcuff the Somali in which the policeman hurt his shoulder.

The accused chose to testify and admitted to being drunk on the day. He did not remember much else about the incident.

In sentencing him, the magistrate took into consideration the nature of the offences as well as the clean criminal record of the accused, handing down a six-month sentence suspended for eighteen months and fined him €4000, which would be converted into 115 days imprisonment if not paid within six months.