A woman who called a bus driver an a****** for not letting her onto his bus without first closing a pushchair in which her two-year-old was sleeping, spent 47 hours under arrest following an altercation with the police who escorted her off the bus without her children.

Ukrainian national Polina Gutshabes, 25, was charged with assaulting and resisting the police, threatening them, disobeying their orders and disturbing public peace.

The incident happened at 2.30pm on Sunday in Ġorġ Borg Olivier Street, St Julian’s when Ms Gutshabes and her husband and their two children, aged two and four, boarded a bus to St Paul’s Bay.

When they boarded, the driver told her that his route was a busy one and that she had to close the pushchair to make space for more people. But the woman told him her son was asleep and the pushchair could not be closed so the driver told her to leave the bus.

The woman asked her for a refund of the fares but the driver refused to hand the money, prompting her to call him an a******.

The driver then left the bus and went to the police station asking for assistance.

When two officers got onto the bus, they asked the woman to leave but she refused. She continued refusing when they ordered her off the bus and then became “hysterical” when they, together with a female officer, forcefully took her off the bus, leaving her husband and children on board.

Defence counsels Giannella de Marco and Steve Tonna Lowell contested the arrest but Magistrate Aaron Bugeja ruled that it was legal as there was alleged violence on police officers.

Police inspector Elton Taliana said the woman also kicked the female officer in the chest and legs and scratched her. He said the woman was “hysterical”.

Dr de Marco replied that there was no legitimate reason to remove her from the bus.

“What a shame that we keep someone arrested for 47 hours because she allegedly called a bus driver an a****** when it was the driver who abandoned the bus and ran to the police station,” she added.

After pleading not guilty to the charges brought against her, Magistrate Bugeja granted the woman bail against a €500 deposit and a €5,000 personal guarantee.

 

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