Conditional discharge

A 24-year-old Briton was yesterday conditionally discharged for a year after he admitted to threatening police officers at Ghadira Bay, Mellieha, on Tuesday night.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi told the court that his client, Christian Philip Chadwick, was filing a guilty plea "against his will" merely because he had to leave Malta on Monday and could not afford being detained on the island until his court case was over.

Dr Azzopardi explained that the incident took place when Mr Chadwick sat on the floating lido at Ghadira Bay and accidentally broke a sign when he rested against it.

His client went to the owner to pay for the damage caused, which amounted to about Lm17. Then, later on, a group of police officers on the beach approached him and started pushing him around.

When Mr Chadwick reacted to this treatment he was accused of assaulting the officers.

Police Inspector Josric Mifsud, prosecuting, argued that there were two sides to the story as he had been informed that Mr Chadwick had shouldered a police officer who told him not to move from a specified spot.

After hearing this, Magistrate Antonio Mizzi handed down a conditional discharge and warned Mr Chadwick not to commit any other crime within the year if he ever came back to Malta. "Let us avoid any hassles," the magistrate said.