Suspended sentence for Swede who assaulted three police officers

A 43-year-old man from Sweden appeared in front of Magistrate Antontio Micallef Trigona this morning, accused of assaulting three police officers.

The incident happened yesterday at 4:50pm when, while at the airport, Lindgren Manu Juha-Pekka was approached by the officers after they noticed he was drunk.

It was then that Pekka assaulted and threatened Inspector Silvio Magro, Sergeants Noel Said and Dunstan Sammut.

He was also accused of disobeying police orders and of breaching the peace.

Inspector Silvio Magro testified that at the time of the incident, the accused was drunk and started to offend him personally.

The man, who does not have a local address and works as a forklift driver, allegedly told the inspector that he had already killed a man and faced jail time.

When arrested, the man tried to punch one of the officers. Defence lawyer Noel Bartolo said the accused was upset because his luggage got lost in Milan.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a two-year suspended sentence, and a fine of €5,000. The accused was given a period of one month to effect the payment.