Threw pressure plate at tourist

The owner of a car hire agency has been given a two-year jail term suspended for four years after seriously injuring a French tourist when she refused to pay a parking fine.

Aldo Formosa, 27, of Mosta, threw a pressure plate at Catherine Galais at the Hal-Ferh Holiday Complex on July 12, 2002. Galais suffered a serious facial wound.

Galais explained to Magistrate Abigail Lofaro that the car had been slapped with a ticket after being parked illegally because it had broken down after two days of hire.

When the car's owner, Formosa, received the summons, he went to look for Galais at Hal-Ferh.

However, when she refused to pay the fine, Formosa threw the car's pressure plate at her, causing a deep facial wound.

Police Inspector Paul Bond prosecuted.