Two charged with assaulting police
Two refugees, who fell asleep on a bus on their way to work on Tuesday, are being charged with assaulting two police officers who woke them up at the St Julians terminus. Eritrean Habtom Tesema Berhea, 25, and Somali Omar Osman Omar, 26, who live...
Two refugees, who fell asleep on a bus on their way to work on Tuesday, are being charged with assaulting two police officers who woke them up at the St Julians terminus.
Eritrean Habtom Tesema Berhea, 25, and Somali Omar Osman Omar, 26, who live together in Valletta, pleaded not guilty to threatening, assaulting and slightly injuring a police sergeant and a constable, damaging police uniforms, disobeying the police and relapsing.
When asked to justify the arrest of the two men, the prosecution explained that a bus inspector informed the police there were two men asleep in a bus at the St Julians terminus.
When the police officers woke the two men up, these turned violent and even started kicking the officers.
The two men, who appeared in court unattended, made a request for bail through an interpreter. They said they fell asleep on their way to the Sliema hotel where they worked and ended up travelling to St Julians.
They denied assaulting the police.
Magistrate Lawrence Quintano turned down their request for bail after hearing that both of them had been convicted over similar charges before.
Police Inspectors Martin Sammut and Carmelo Abdilla prosecuted.