A Frenchman’s outburst at the Sliema police station in which he called the President a “bitch” landed him in court yesterday before he walked away with a suspended sentence.

Rudy Mickael Jean-Bernard Bauduin, 32, who lives in Gżira, was charged before Magistrate Josette Demicoli over an incident on Monday night.

Sources told the Times of Malta that the accused entered the Sliema police station and initially spoke to an officer and was repeatedly heard saying the words “racism” and “racist”. At one point he pointed toward a portrait of President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and started yelling: “That woman is a bitch; the President is a bitch”.

When a police officer followed him outside, the accused refused to present his documents and subsequently resisted arrest, trying to headbutt an officer.

He pleaded guilty to contempt of the President

The accused yesterday apologised for his actions and pleaded guilty to breaching Article 72 of the Criminal Code, which deals with contempt of the President.

According to this law “whoever shall use any defamatory, insulting, or disparaging words, acts or gestures in contempt of the person of the President of Malta, may be be liable to imprisonment for a term from one to three months or to a fine”.

The court sentenced Mr Bauduin to six months in jail, suspended for two years.

Inspector Jason Sultana prosecuted, while Dr Martin Fenech was legal aid to the accused.