A 22-year-old man under psychiatric care has been banned from using social media after admitting to having posted a Facebook rant about planning to kill the Prime Minister and his family.

The man from Qormi, who suffers from an unspecified mental illness and had received residential psychiatric care, was arraigned after posting that: "My friends and I have a plan to kill that hypocrite Joseph Muscat and his children."

The threat was made in the context of a Facebook argument which erupted over the price of a fundraising meal which was being organised by the Nationalist Party. Somebody called the Nationalists “thieves” and the ensuing trade-off escalated to the point where the accused posted the comments about the Prime Minister.

He was charged with threatening the Prime Minister, spreading false news, making threats and inciting political hatred. He was also charged with misuse of communications equipment.

Police inspectors Joseph Busuttil and Carlos Cordina exhibited screenshots of the accused’s Facebook page, terming the comments threatening the Prime Minister's safety as “worrying language”.

Legal aid lawyer Benjamin Valencia argued that the accused had no intention of carrying out his threat.

Standing in the dock, looking dazed, the accused mumbled that he was under medication and didn't know what he was doing.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale handed him down a six-month sentence suspended for four years, fined him €200 and prohibited him from making use of any form of social media, including Facebook, for three years.

The court placed the accused under a treatment order, ordering the Mount Carmel hospital authorities to treat him as they deemed fit.