A female prisoner who refused to be strip-searched elbowed a prison warder in the chin as she was being escorted to an isolation cell, a magistrate heard. 

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja heard how inmate Shannon Leigh Williams refused to be strip-searched a second time after she was seen hiding what later turned out to be a mobile Sim card. 

Ms Williams, a 20-year-old from Portsmouth, stands charged with violently assaulting, resisting, threatening and disobeying the prison guard and her colleague.

She is also facing a separate case where she is accused of stealing luggage from the Malta International Airport in June. 

Correctional officer Alison Vassallo told the court that at around 3pm on August 1, Ms Williams returned to prison after being accompanied to a guest house in Xemxija to collect her personal belongings.

As per usual practice, prisoners were first strip-searched after which their personal items were then searched before being allowed into the correctional edifice. 

Ms Vassallo said that while Ms Williams' luggage was being searched, Ms Vassallo saw her placing something inside a folder containing letters. The folder had been checked before and nothing irregular was found. 

But after she was seen making the suspicious movement, the folder was checked again and the mobile Sim card was found. 

Ms Vassallo said her superior, Major Mary Azzopardi, ordered a second strip-search to ensure that nothing else was being concealed. But Ms Williams refused to be strip-searched again. 

"All of a sudden she began shouting, saying we are all bull****, that we are full of s*** and that we are all bitches and she refused to go to the search room. She became more aggressive, punching and kicking us and an order was given for her to be taken to an isolation cell. I grabbed her from an arm and my colleague from the other."

"She managed to get out of my grip, turned and elbowed me in the chin. I was covered in blood and ended up at the health centre with five stitches to my chin," she told the magistrate.  

When asked by the court, Ms Vassallo said: "It was deliberate, not accidental."

During cross examination, Ms Vassallo denied using excessive force to get the prisoner into the isolation room, but added that "no one has her attitude". 

"Her behaviour is just too much. She even tried getting into fights with other inmates," she said. 

Inspector Spiridione Zammit, who is prosecuting, exhibited a total of 13 reports made by correctional officers since Ms Williams was first remanded in custody. 

Last June, Ms Williams was remanded in custody after being charged with stealing a suitcase that belonged to a Maltese couple who had arrived on a Ryanair flight from Girona in Spain.

A few days later she was spotted, by chance, by the couple in Xemxija, sporting a hand-bag and sneakers identical to the ones which were in the stolen luggage.

Ms Williams made the headlines after she told Magistrate Carol Peralta to "kiss her a**". 

Both cases continue on August 27. Lawyer Noel Bianco was defence counsel.

 

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