Man remanded in custody after hospital emergency room fracas

A man who smashed a door and window at the emergency department at Mater Dei Hospital after being told to sit down and wait, despite bleeding heavily from a cut in his arm, has been remanded in custody.

Adnan Saed, 26, from Libya appeared before Magistrate Rachel Montebello this morning with his left hand heavily bandaged. Inspector Jonathan Ransley told the court that Saed had been taken to the Mater Dei Hospital emergency room by ambulance from Paceville at 3am on Friday, drunk and with a cut to his arm.

The inspector said that despite the fact that he was bleeding profusely, Saed was ordered to sit down and wait without any first aid or medical attention having been administered.

 The desperate man soon turned violent, however, and a commotion erupted in which he caused damage to a glass window and a door at reception.

"He was agitated and smashed the glass at reception. He was unhappy because nobody was stopping his blood loss. Had they bandaged him in time, this wouldn’t have happened," the inspector said.

Saed was additionally accused of pushing and swearing at two police officers at the scene, as well as being charged with public drunkenness, disturbing the peace and using obscene language in public.

He told police that he had previously spent three years in Malta and had returned recently after spending some time in Sweden.

Defence counsel Martha Mifsud explained that the events described by the inspector had indeed happened, but said that the accused "didn’t know what was happening as he was bleeding heavily".

The charges were harsh in the circumstances, she said, insisting that he was fighting for his life. He needed someone to pay attention to him because he was being ignored, Mifsud explained.

A not guilty plea was entered and Mifsud requested bail.

The Inspector said the man had answered vaguely when asked where he lived, telling police his address was "Bugibba". Despite his clean conduct, he insisted that the man’s detention under arrest should continue for now.

But the man had been interrogated in Maltese, without a translator argued Mifsud, pointing out that the accused would be living with a friend. The friend, present in the courtroom, gave her address.

The court, however, denied bail, saying it was not convinced that the accused had a fixed address.