A magistrate yesterday heard a police officer vehemently deny pushing a Spanish woman to the ground as she attempted to skip the queue at the Identity Malta offices last month, insisting that he had only used “minimal force”.

Police Constable Anthony Theuma said that, although the woman was hitting and kicking him, he did not resort to the use of handcuffs or pepper spray because he opted to try and calm her down.

His version was corroborated by other employees who witnessed the incident and confirmed the woman moved backwards and tripped over a low parking barrier.

Mr Theuma was testifying before Magistrate Joseph Mifsud in the compilation of evidence against 49-year-old Swieqi resident Yinette Consuelo Guaquirian Pedrique.

She stands charged with filing a false report at the police depot in Floriana on June 22.

She is also charged with accusing a police officer of a crime she knew had not taken place, causing a disturbance outside the passport office on June 15, disobeying police orders and preventing the police officer from carrying out his duties.

Criminal action was taken against the woman after closed circuit television footage revealed that she had not been pushed.

The court heard the woman was allowed to sit in the building on the day of the incident because she told them she had a medical condition affecting her eye and could not stand in the sun.

Mr Theuma said that, while she was inside, she walked to the reception desk and demanded a number for her place in the queue. The employees at the reception did not know that she had been allowed in as a special concession and gave her a number.

But other people in the queue began to complain and employees asked her to return the number but she refused.

She started shouting at employees in broken English and in a language they could not understand. They, however, clearly understood when she repeatedly told them “f*** you”.

The constable was asked to intervene but she persisted in being rowdy, hitting him in the process. He told the court he repeatedly told her to calm down and finally managed to snatch the ticket out of her hands.

Some 20 minutes later the woman walked outside the passport office and kicked and punched a security officer, Raymond Mifsud, who immediately called the policeman again.

Mr Theuma said the woman continued to resist him, was shouting at the top of her voice and was hitting him. He said he saw her moving backwards and tripping over a low barrier.

As he tried helping her back up, she started to kick him so he drew his pepper spray and warned her that he would have to use it if she continued to be violent. “I used the bare minimum force and, even though I had handcuffs and pepper spray, I did not use them on her. She was violent and disobeyed all my orders but I did not lay a finger on her,” Mr Theuma said.

The case continues next week. Police inspectors Justin Camilleri and Priscilla Caruana prosecuted while lawyers Andrew Sciberras and Lara Dimitrijevic appeared for the woman.