A 17-year-old boy with a history of neglect was today let off with a conditional discharge after he admitted to violently resisting the police in an incident in St Julians on Saturday night. He also admitted threatening a policewoman, tearing her trousers and slightly injuring her.

Police Inspector Nikolai Sant said the boy had been spotted by a patrol banging on shop shutters with a metal rod. When he saw the police he ran off. A policewoman tried to stop him and was pushed to the ground.

Asked by Magistrate Claire Micallef Stafrace about the case, the boy said he had not been the one who was banging on the shutters. He however admitted that he had rushed off when he saw the police. The Magistrate told the boy that the police were there to help him.

Inspector Malcolm Bondin told the court that he had known the accused since he was 12. His father had passed away and he had been neglected by his mother and grandmother. His mother was in the United States, his 18-year-old sister was in Libya, and he has no one to look after him.

He was at St Patrick's between the aged of 13 and 16, but because of demand and limited place, they had to let him go at the age of 16.

The boy used to go around to his friends to stay at their home or to get a meal and their parents then used to call the police, saying they had no place for him.

He was worried, the police inspector said, that the boy would start the wrong path.

The court took this into consideration and conditionally discharged the boy for two years.