A former inmate who attacked a prison guard with a kettle and broke one of his fingers has had a nine-month jail term reduced by a month after a judge found
the injuries were not serious.

William Mercieca, 41, had attacked correctional officer Steven Camilleri on
December 5, 2005, inside division 13 when he told the guard he did not want his cell door to be locked.

Mr Camilleri refused and Mr Mercieca attacked him with a kettle and broke the
guard's finger.

During the fight, other inmates had to pull Mr Mercieca off Mr Camilleri after the
fight got out of hand.

Mr Mercieca appealed the original judgment on various points, among them being the excessive time it took to receive justice and that the injuries were not in fact
classified at law as serious, but slight.

Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano reduced the jail term to eight months from nine months after takin  into consideration that the injuries were in fact slight.

The judge took into consideration the fact Mr Mercieca's last conviction was in 2006 and that he seemed to have reformed since then. He also considered the lengthy time it took to hand down justice but said attacks on officials who were doing their job was unacceptable.