A former bus driver due in court yesterday was thrown out almost straight away after arriving in torn jeans and a T-shirt.

As proceedings were about to begin, the magistrate asked where Joseph Zammit was when, bang on cue, the swinging doors of the court room were flung open and the accused limped in.

Leaning on his walking stick, Mr Zammit, a prison inmate, told the magistrate “Aw Ħi”, to the amusement of the public and lawyers. He was also carrying a white plastic bag that he claimed contained all his torn clothes.

The magistrate placed the blame for the dress code blunder squarely on the shoulders of the Prisons Director, Police Superintendent Abraham Zammit.

The accused, known by his nickname “the rat” , was supposed to answer to charges of animal cruelty but Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona told him he was deferring the case until he could turn up properly dressed and ordered that Supt. Zammit be made aware of this situation.

The magistrate added that prison authorities should provide proper attire.

He deferred the case to January 29, meaning that by the next sitting the case would have been pending for almost three years.

When Mr Zammit was leaving the court room, he told the magistrate, with a somewhat sarcastic smile, that he had left his dogs with no food and warned him that he would steal any dogs he found outside.

The case continues.