A woman bit an assailant’s tongue, cutting off a part that was recovered by the police the following day.

Speaking with some difficulty due to his injury, Crispin Grima, 35, from Santa Luċija, pleaded guilty to violent indecent assault and being drunk in public.

The 28-year-old Nepali woman, who is not being named to protect her identity, was walking along Testaferrata Street, Gżira, a notorious red light zone, on her way home to Msida at 3am last Saturday.

She noticed that a man – who was drunk – was following her and kept calling out “hey, sweetie” in Maltese.

Mr Grima tried to touch her and she pushed him away, then he grabbed her by the throat.

He forced himself on her and shoved his tongue into her mouth. She bit it so hard that she cut part off, then began screaming and was helped by a woman in the vicinity.

Her assailant escaped and the victim went home, filing a police report the following day.

District police went on site and found the tongue fragment, which was given to a court-appointed expert for examination.

Police alerted all health centres and Mater Dei Hospital to report patients with those sort of injuries.

It emerged Mr Grima went to the Floriana health centre at 4.38am and was referred to Mater Dei.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia sentenced Mr Grima to four months in jail, suspended for one year.