A 58-year-old man, who is so well known to the police that they expect to be called to his house almost every weekend, was remanded in custody after chasing his son with a knife, a court heard yesterday.

Paul Roberts allegedly chased his son Paul, 19, down the street with a kitchen knife after getting into an argument over his daughter Salvina.

Her brother stuck-up for her after the accused refused to let her live at the family home in Senglea on Saturday night at about midnight, Police Inspector Jesmond Borg said.

He said he had been serving in Senglea for about a year and a half and had come to expect to be called to the Roberts family home every Friday and Saturday, adding that the police had a threshold of tolerance and this had now been reached.

"The situation is out of hand. Every time we are called, the arguments among the family members escalate and if a police officer had not been there, the outcome would have been much worse" the inspector pointed out.

Mr Roberts pleaded not guilty to attempting to seriously injure his son, resisting police officers, threatening them while in the police lock-up in Paola, carrying a knife during the fight and breaching public peace.

Defence lawyer Marion Camilleri asked for bail saying her client's son did not live in the same house as his father and therefore granting bail would not be a problem.

The prosecuting officer said the situation was still critical between the two men and that, in their best interest, it would be safer to remand the accused in custody to avoid any further fights.

Magistrate Edwina Grima acceded to the inspector's request.

Lawyer Franco Debono also appeared for Mr Roberts.