A 33-year-old Libyan man was charged with seriously injuring a police constable with a knife and slightly injuring another three officers in Paceville on October 18.

Munir Mohamed Ali Gammudi was also charged with the illegal possession of a knife, assaulting the officers, disobeying police, breaching the peace and breaching bail conditions of a previous court case when he was given an 8.30pm curfew. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bail.

Lawyer Giannella deMarco, for the accused, contested the legality of the arrest claiming that her client was never released by police since his arrest on October 18.

Even though he was in hospital since then, "unconscious", he had police escorts with him and was never told he was released from arrest.

She also asked for CCTV footage in the area of the alleged crime to be collected.

The police officers involved had not even been investigated or accused and it was not acceptable to have a "two weights, two measures" system, she said.

Inspector Elton Taliana insisted that the accused had been informed that he was no longer arrested. The magistrate declared the arrest justified.

The alleged incident happened on October 18 when an off-duty policeman was seriously injured and another three were slightly hurt when they arrested a knife-wielding man in Paceville, on St Rita Steps, at about 5.20am

In a statement issued by police on the day, police said the incident started when the man threw a glass at a group of people.

When one of the policemen identified himself and ordered the man to stop, the man spat at him and produced a knife.

He ran off when the policemen tried to arrest him but was apprehended after a struggle.