Parent with drinking problem may lose children's custody after rant at neighbours

A mother from Mosta may lose custody of her two children for getting drunk and abusive towards a police and a neighbour who refused to allow her access to the roof of the apartment block.

The 42-year-old woman, who is not being named to protect the identity of her two young children, appeared under arrest before magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras this morning.

Inspector Maurice Curmi charged the woman with resisting and threatening officers who had been called by her neighbour following a foul-mouthed rant.

She had been placed on probation last year after violently resisting officers who arrested her for drink-driving.

Nine charges were filed in all, including breaching the peace, failing to obey legitimate police orders, public drunkenness, relapsing, recidivism and breaching the conditions of a probation order.

The woman was also charged with failing to adequately take care of children in her custody.

Inspector Curmi testified that the woman's neighbours had requested police assistance because the woman had been “aggressively insulting them.”

She had then insulted police officers who responded to the call, he added.

The woman, who is struggling with alcoholism, has two children, aged 4 and 12, who are being cared for by Appogg, the court was told.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail for the woman, whose body language throughout the sitting pointed towards her being very perturbed by her predicament.

“The accused has a difficult life, young children and no assistance,” the lawyer said. “Sometimes she drinks and when this happens she gets out of control.”

He explained that the woman had encountered a problem with her water tank and had asked the neighbour to allow her to access the roof, but he had refused. “Then she got drunk and the incident occurred.”

Magistrate Galea Sciberras observed that the mother was already under a probation order which had been running since 2015. There had been no problems to date, Valentino said.

The court granted the accused bail against a deposit of €250 and a €2000 personal guarantee. She was also placed under a curfew.