A man with various brushes with the law in the past was granted release from arrest after causing a commotion at the Paola police station where he was summoned to face some questions on Tuesday evening.

Stephen Borg, 39, from Birkirkara and currently unemployed, was on Thursday morning taken to court under arrest to face charges over the incident which allegedly occurred at around 7pm.

The prosecution explained that upon being told there was the likelihood of an arrest warrant in his regard, the man ran out of the police station and got behind the wheel of his car.

Before duty magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace, the man pleaded not guilty to assaulting and violently resisting two police officers, slightly injuring one of them, refusing to obey legitimate orders and driving in a dangerous and reckless manner.

Inspector Hubert Cini told the court that after the incident the man apologised to the police and reiterated his apology even when releasing his statement to the police. However, it was pointed out that the injured officer had not yet fully recovered and his numb hand had prevented him from resuming duties.

Defence counsel Mario Mifsud remarked that his client had definitely not intended to cause the officer any harm.

A request for bail was upheld against a personal guarantee of €3,000 and under the condition of signing the bail book once weekly on Monday.

Inspector Hubert Cini prosecuted. Lawyers Mario Mifsud and Lennox Vella were defence counsel.