An angry man punched a traffic warden in the face and damaged his glasses after he was asked to move his car away from the side of the road.

Philip Zahra, 38, from Naxxar, was yesterday given a suspended jail term and ordered to pay for the damage to the spectacles after pleading guilty to slightly injuring Stephen Grech in St Paul’s Street, Naxxar at about 2 p.m. on Monday.

Mr Grech did not retaliate when attacked but instead called for police back-up, the court heard.

Mr Zahra, wearing five ear rings and sporting a scorpion tattoo on one arm and a dragon on the other, also admitted to resisting police orders, threatening the warden and swearing in public.

Lawyer Mark Busuttil told Magistrate Anthony Vella his client would have liked to say sorry to the warden in per-son but the warden was not in court.

The magistrate said he too would have liked the warden to be present. He took the apology into consideration before sentencing Mr Zahra to six months in jail suspended for one year.

Mr Zahra was also ordered to pay the €25 bill for the repair of the spectacles.