A 40-year-old man from Vittoriosa was remanded in custody today after being accused in court of assaulting and beating up an off-duty policeman when he stopped his car in St Julian's yesterday afternoon.

Angel Attard, 40 from Birgu, practices martial arts and has a history of road rage, the court was told.  

Christian Agius, the policeman who was assaulted yesterday.

In one of the previous incidents, he chased a bowser driver and hit him. (He also served several years in jail for other convictions)

During arguments on a request for bail, the prosecution pointed out that this was a case of road rage that had been sparked by the off-duty policeman highlighting a simple traffic violation.

Inspector Matthew Spagnol, prosecuting, said that Mr Attard “wanted to disfigure the policeman’s face”.

The victim, indeed, suffered a permanent disfigurement to his face.

Mr Attard, he said, had no respect towards authority and was a repeat offender.

Defence counsel Carm Mifsud Bonnici said Mr Attard was self-employed with flexible hours and could therefore abide by strict bail conditions. It was also pointed out that the court had only heard the victim’s version of events, and that Mr Attard had also been manhandled.

Magistrate Anthony Vella denied bail, since the accused did not offer sufficient guarantees to merit release from arrest.