A man who had beaten up an off-duty police officer in a fit of road rage outside the St Julian’s tunnels two years ago, has been placed under a 250-hour community service order.

The case took place in January 2017.

Angel Attard, 41, from Vittoriosa had allegedly got out of his Volkswagen and punched a plainclothes policeman who had stopped to warn him over his allegedly dangerous driving manoeuvres.

The victim had been out shopping with his girlfriend and had witnessed Mr Attard's driving as he sat in his girlfriend's car. 

Christian Agius, the off-duty officer assaulted.

Mr Attard was subsequently taken to court and accused of having grievously injured the off-duty officer without intending to place his life at risk, violently resisted a police officer in the execution of a legitimate order, assaulted the officer as well as having driven in a dangerous and reckless manner.

Over a year later, in the course of the proceedings, the accused had registered an admission to all the charges except for violently resisting the police officer.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech concluded that there was “an absolute lack of evidence” to prove that at the time of the incident, the victim had been executing a lawful order by a competent authority, thereby acquitting the accused of this charge.

As for the rest of the charges, to which the accused had registered an admission, at a not-so-early stage, the court declared him guilty.

When meting out punishment, the court, whilst taking note of the accused’s tainted criminal record and all the circumstances of the case, also noted a Social Inquiry Report drawn up by a probation officer who said that Mr Attard had embarked upon the right path, had a fixed job and a stable life, buttressed by a supportive family.

The reporting officer thus recommended that the accused ought “to be allowed to continue to live this stability,” a recommendation which was adopted by the court, placing the man under a 250-hour community service order which would best serve the interests of society at large.

As for a claim for damages registered by the policeman in the course of the criminal proceedings, the court observed that a number of receipts issued by two private health clinics and a pharmacy, as well as a specialist’s email requesting payment for a psychiatric report, gave no indication of the nature of the medical consultation.

Nor had these documents been authenticated by the injured party or a representative of the clinics concerned, the court observed.

The victim had also requested compensation for 1,074 missed hours of extra duty, amounting to €12,199, without however, putting forward “the slightest shred of evidence” to support this claim, the court observed, adding that the least he could have done was to confirm this claim under oath and present all evidence to support this pretension.

The court thereby turned down the policeman's claim for damages.

However, in its analysis of this claim, the court pointed out a negative prejudice resulting from recent amendments introduced by Act XXXII of 2018 whereby victims of wilful crimes against the person liable to a minimum prison term of 3 years, would have their claim for damages before the criminal court, capped at €10,000.

The wording of the law, as affected by the said amendments, meant that other victims, possibly suffering less grievous offences, would face no such capping of damages, the court explained, adding that this negative prejudice had clearly not been intended by the legislator, as evidenced by the parliamentary debates surrounding the amendments.

“However the amendments as introduced did not reflect this reasoning,” the court remarked, thus ordering that a copy of the judgment be served upon the Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government as well as the Attorney General.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Amadeus Cachia were defence counsel.