A policeman, who stands accused of beating up a civilian during an argument, pushed the civilian's girlfriend against the wall as the couple were reporting the incident, a policewoman told a court yesterday.

Taking the witness stand, WPS Maria Scicluna said that on the night of the incident, July 30, she remembered the couple entering the St Julians police station with the police officers but did not realise they were policemen because they were not wearing a uniform.

The couple seemed agitated. The girl, in particular, was very nervous and when she started to speak, recounting how they were attacked by the police officers, one of the officers pushed her up against the wall and other officers at the St Julians police intervened.

Earlier, a police superintendent told the court that the incident was not subject to an internal investigation despite the couple's claims that they had been the victims of an attack by the police.

Police Superintendent Mario Spiteri said no internal probe was deemed necessary because the case was investigated by the Sliema district office and it was felt that no charges should be brought against the officers, Police Inspector Pierre Grech and PC John Farrugia.

But the investigation by the police led to the boyfriend, Claudio Overend, 19, of Swieqi, being arraigned for attacking the police in the argument.

In fact, there is a conflict between the version given by the couple and that by the police officers (who both respectively say they were the victims of aggression). A witness recently testified that it was the police officers who jumped Mr Overend.

On this basis, and the testimony of the policewoman, defence lawyer Jose Herrera yesterday insisted that although it appeared the police officers had broken the law, no proceedings had been initiated against them and on the contrary it was his client who had been arraigned.

Serena Smith, Mr Overend's girlfriend went over the incident in her testimony.

She said she was trying to park her car but was blocked by another car in the way. The driver behind her started to hoot and she signalled from her window that she was going to park but the driver kept on hooting.

At that point, the passenger of the car behind her got out and walked over to her window. He started shouting and told her to drive off as he was a police officer.

Mr Overend walked over and the man started shouting at him too, she said.

"Claudio put his hand on the man's shoulder in a gesture to try and calm him down but he (the officer) pushed Claudio and kept on shouting," she explained. The argument escalated and the man kept on pushing her boyfriend, although she could not understand what was being said.

The driver of the car behind them then got out and both of them started pushing Mr Overend around until he fell on the ground at which point the shorter of the two men sat on him while the other kicked him, she claimed.

Ms Smith got out of the car and told the driver of the car, who was the taller of the two, to stop kicking her boyfriend. He then turned, grabbed her by the neck and pushed her up against the wall, she said.

A man appeared next to the fighting men and they told him to leave, she added.

After the incident, the two men grabbed Mr Overend, put him into the back of their car and told Ms Smith that she could go home and calm down but she followed them to the police station in St Julians.

When they arrived there, the two men immediately started telling officers behind the front desk what had happened but as she tried to speak, the taller man held her and pushed her up against the wall.

Officers ran from behind the front desk and pulled him away from her, Ms Smith said.

Lawyer Veronique Dalli also appeared for Mr Overend.