'Frying pan' man told police he knew where they lived

More details have emerged about the incident which led to a man from St. Paul’s Bay being conditionally discharged and fined for calling a policeman a frying pan last Friday.

The incident had provoked a strong reaction from some quarters, who had felt it to be an excessive reaction to an infantile insult. But sources close to the case have clarified that the man, 37-year-old Patrick Sciberras, had launched a tirade of insults at the policemen, also threatening them with repercussions to their families and saying he knew where they lived. This detail had featured in the affidavits of the arresting officers which had been presented, but not read out, in court.

The detail gives perspective to that previously reported on Friday by news outlets including MaltaToday, which had said that the man was fined €850 and handed a conditional discharge for allegedly calling a policeman a “frying pan” - an incident which his lawyer had claimed to have been blown out of proportion.

Sciberras had claimed that he had been waiting to be picked up from a bus stop by a friend, when a motorcycle-mounted policeman first drove past them, then stopped and started shouting at him, calling the mobile squad and district police to the scene.