Man to be deported after drunken assault on police

A Ukrainian man is to be deported after he assaulted and slightly injured a female police officer in Paceville on 15 August.

Oleksii Hashkov, 32, who resides in Gzira, was arraigned by Inspector Joseph Xerri this afternoon, accused of insulting and attempting to influence or intimidate a policeman and policewoman, slightly injuring the female officer, being drunk in public and consuming alcohol from a glass container in a prohibited place.

The incident took place at around 3:30am in St. George’s Road, St. Julian’s on 15 August.
Police had stopped the man near the police station, upon seeing that he was intoxicated.

The man had then started trying to intimidate the police, who tried to send him on his way, peacefully. When he refused and the police moved to arrest him, he resisted the officers, slightly injuring one of them.

Lawyer Graziella Tanti entered a guilty plea on behalf of the accused, who appeared in court, assisted by an interpreter.

The Court said that attacks on police are not acceptable, but from the evidence brought before it, it was not clear whether there was a language problem which had caused the intoxicated accused to misunderstand the police.

The court handed Hashkov a sentence of two years imprisonment, suspended for three years and gave him six months to pay an €800 fine.