A patient who lost his temper and punched a police officer in the face after being told he needed treatment at Mount Carmel Hospital was sent to jail.

Sean Sinclaire Pace, 36, who has no fixed address, was yesterday sentenced to one year in prison and fined €1,000.

The court heard that a commotion erupted on October 13 when the man was being treated in one of the cubicles and a police officer who was on duty at the emergency department tried to intervene to calm him down.

The man became violent and punched the police officer several times.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that the accused had already been convicted several times but it seemed “he had not learnt his lesson”.

It was also pointed out that acts of violence against public officials should be treated very seriously, in line with changes from 2014 which introduced harsher penalties for such crimes. In view of this, the court imposed both a prison term and a fine.

Lawyer Joe Brincat was defence counsel.