A young mother has ended up behind bars after allegedly violently resisting the police yesterday when she called at Appoġġ and insisted on seeing her two-month-old daughter.
The baby was taken away from her under a care order just four days after birth.
The 22-year-old unmarried and unemployed mother, accompanied in court by her stepmother, pleaded not guilty to resisting police arrest, threatening two police officers, slightly injuring one of them, threatening two social workers, damaging third party property and disturbed the public peace.
She was further accused of having bitten and possibly transmitted an infectious disease to one of the officers, a possibility which however still needs to be ascertained.
The drama reportedly unfolded yesterday afternoon when the accused, currently residing at a shelter in Birkirkara, turned up at the Appoġġ Centre in St Luke's Road, G'Mangia and insisted on being allowed access to her baby who is currently being cared for by a foster family.
When her request was turned down, the young mother refused to leave.
An argument erupted between the accused and Agency workers who, fearing for their own safety, called in the police. It reportedly needed five male police officers to restrain the mother who ended up handcuffed and taken into police custody.
The defence lawyer explained that this was a humanitarian case of a young mother who, after being separated from her baby, just wanted to be given the chance of a brief reunion.
The defence pointed out that when the woman went to the social care agency's offices "all hell broke loose" and his client ended up being hit, kicked and handcuffed on the floor by the police.
In her statement released after her arrest, the accused had remarked that she was handled by male officers who handcuffed her so tightly that her wrists were still marked. "She is no Qaħbu, Qattus or Toto' " remarked the defence.
The prosecution argued that Appoġġ workers had indeed tried to calm down the accused but to no avail. Moreover, as the woman lay on the floor she had allegedly bitten one of the officers in the leg, potentially infecting him with the Hepatitis C virus. The officer was in fact still undergoing medical tests to determine his fate, the court was informed.
This is no Suarez- Defence lawyer
"This is no Suarez" the defence quipped, a reference to a football player with a history of biting others.
He said the Hepatitis claim was just a hypothesis.
However, the accused did have an earlier brush with the law for biting a policewoman, the prosecution retorted.
The court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, after considering that civilian witnesses were still to testify, denied bail. Furthermore, the court urged the competent authorities to provide all necessary treatment required by the accused and recommended that the woman be entrusted to the Forensic Unit at Mount Carmel.
Inspector Elliott Magro prosecuted.
Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Julian Farrugia were defence counsel.