Ivan Galea, 36 of Valletta, was this morning jailed for six months for assaulting a policeman, threatening and slightly injuring him, damaging a car, disobeying police orders and breaching the peace.

He was also convicted of being drunk in public and relapsing.

Prosecuting Inspector Martin Sammut said that Mr Galea had attacked the policeman while he was trying to help a woman who had sought police help because a man was banging against her car.

When the policeman approached the car to help her, Mr Galea punched him in the neck. The policeman needed treatment at Gzira health centre.

In his statement Mr Galea said he had been drinking for many hours and he only knew that the police had taken him to the police station. He did not know that he had punched anyone.

The woman testified that Mr Galea had headbutted her car.

A probation officer testified that the courts had given the accused several chances but he did not have the right attitude for rehabilitation.

In handing down judgment, Magistrate Lawrence Quintano noted that Mr Galea filed an early guilty plea and that a social worker testified that he had changed his attitude and was willing to follow a rehabilitation programme. In 2009 he had followed such a programme for five months.

However the court noted that the criminal record of the accused was several pages long and he had assaulted a policeman for nothing.

Magistrate Quintano therefore jailed him for six months.

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