Man fined €5,000 for spitting at police when reporting non-payment of his wages

A man has been fined €5,000 after he admitted to having spat at police officers for being unable to help him with an employment dispute.

Inspector Sarah Zerafa charged 38-year-old Steve Magro of Fgura with having attacked and violently resisted two police officers, threatening and insulting them, slightly injuring one and disobeying the legitimate orders of the other.

Lawyer Graziella Tanti was legal aid counsel to the accused.

She entered a guilty plea, explaining to magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo that the accused had been working for someone who hadn’t been paying him for some time and had subsequently fired him. Magro had gone to the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations but felt that his case was not given importance and so he had later gone to the police.

He went to file a police report for non-payment of wages on January 1 at the Fgura police station, but was directed to speak to a government department.

It was at that point that Magro spat at the officers. He then violently resisted efforts to arrest him, by kicking them. He was eventually taken into custody and was charged this morning.

The magistrate asked the prosecution and the defence lawyer to approach the bench, where a hushed discussion, lasting several minutes, took place.

Despite being given the opportunity to reconsider, the accused insisted on his guilty plea. Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo imposed a fine of €5000 on the man, giving him a three-year time window in which to pay it.