A soft-spoken 18-year-old boy was granted his personal freedom today after being arraigned on charges of having caused a fracas when three police officers turned up outside his family home in Sliema to arrest him.

Andre Bugeja is alleged to have violently resisted arrest, kicking one officer and punching another.

Assisted by legal aid lawyer Noel Bartolo, since his own personal lawyer had apparently refused to appear on his behalf, the young man pleaded not guilty.

The accused was given a chance to explain his own version of the alleged incident to magistrate Gabrielle Vella.

While he admitted to having kicked one of the officers, the teenager strongly denied having punched another officer, allegedly damaged his camera. "I was handcuffed when the officer used offensive language about my family," the young man said. He retaliated to this alleged insult but did not punch the policeman in the face, the court heard.

The defence argued that while it was true that Mr Bugeja had resisted police arrest, he was now cooperating was even honest enough to partly admit the charges.

"We have to give this child a chance," the lawyer pleaded. "This is a particular case. Sending him to jail at this stage could do more harm than good."

Sensitive to this line of argument, magistrate Gabriella Vella upheld the request for bail, warning the teenager of the strict bail conditions.

However, proceedings took an unexpected twist when the accused was asked to pay a deposit of €500 so as to regain his freedom. With dismay written over his face and gesturing helplessly, he admitted that he did not have so much money.

"This was meant to be my first day of work. Please give me a month's time to pay."

The court acknowledged the special circumstances of this case and reduced the deposit to €200. It also imposed a personal guarantee of €3,000. The teenage boy was escorted out of the court in the hope of securing the €200 which were the key to his personal freedom.

Inspector Lara Butters prosecuted.

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