Football nursery team coach denies throwing beer glass at policeman

The coach of a children's football team has been ordered to stay away from matches which he is not coaching, after he was charged with throwing a glass at a police officer who had been defusing an argument between him and another patron at the Victor Tedesco Stadium bar on Sunday afternoon.

Keith Darmanin, 37, was released on bail this morning, having appeared before magistrate Charmaine Galea, charged with insulting, attacking and slightly injuring a police officer in a half-time altercation.

Police inspector Robert Vella told the court that during Sunday’s game between Fgura and Rabat, Darmanin had caused a disturbance when he argued with a patron at the stadium bar at half-time. A police officer had told the man to quiet down, before eventually ordering him to leave the bar. The man had to be restrained after allegedly throwing a beer glass at the officer, who was slightly injured.

Darmanin’s defence counsel, lawyer Rachel Tua, entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail. Tua argued that the charges were, for the most part, contraventions and that the accused is a family man who coaches Floriana’s football nursery team. 

Were the court to impose a ban on the man attending football events, the lawyer asked that he only be prohibited from matches in which he was not coaching. Inspector Vella did not object to allowing the accused to attend his football nursery’s matches.

Darmanin was released from arrest on condition that he remain in Malta, not approach any of the witnesses and sign bail book once a week. Bail was secured by a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €2,000.

He was also prohibited from approaching sports grounds for any reason other than coaching youth teams.