Women ‘attacked police’ as football fan lay dying

Two female football fans grabbed a policewoman by the hair and punched and pushed her as she was trying to create some space for a man to breathe after he suffered a heart attack during a match, a court heard yesterday.

The two women, Darlene Borg, 22, and Angiolina Borg, 43, both from Valletta, were expressing outrage at the time it was taking for the man to get medical assistance, the policewoman, Constable Rodene Ghirxi, testified.

The man, Louis Micallef, 56, was watching the match between Valletta FC and Hibernians on September 25 last year when he collapsed at about 8.15 p.m. He later died.

WPC Ghirxi said she was told to move people away from the man to make way for the emergency services and to give him space to breathe. As she was doing so, she asked the accused to climb the stairs and away from the man.

However, the two fans started arguing with her because of the time it was taking for medical assistance to arrive, the constable said.

They then grabbed her by the hair, swearing and shouting, until other officers arrived to drag them off her.

Police Sergeant George Polidano told the court he called the ambulance twice during the incident and he was the person who dragged Darlene Borg screaming and kicking, off WPC Ghirxi.

She even kicked him between the legs after which she told him it was nothing personal but she had wanted to get at the policewoman.

Cross-examining the witness, defence lawyer Franco Debono asked how long it took for the ambulance to arrive, to which the sergeant replied five to 10 minutes.

When the lawyer suggested that it took much longer, and that it was more like 45 minutes, Sergeant Polidano said it was more like 10 to 15 minutes.

A few days after the incident, the president of the Malta Football Association, Norman Darmanin Demajo, rubbished claims that Mr Micallef died because he had no medical assistance. He said a doctor was at his side within five minutes of the man collapsing.

The case continues.