A prison warder recounted in court yesterday how she was elbowed in the face by a female inmate who refused to be strip-searched a second time.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja heard how inmate Shannon Leigh Williams refused to be strip-searched again after she was seen hiding what later turned out to be a mobile SIM card in a folder containing letters.

The incident happened on August 1 while Ms Williams was being escorted to an isolation cell.

Ms Williams, a 20-year-old from Portsmouth, UK, stands charged with violently assaulting, resisting, threatening and disobeying the prison guard and her colleague.

She is also facing separate charges of stealing luggage from the Malta International Airport in June.

Correctional officer Alison Vassallo told the court that at around 3pm on August 1, Ms Williams returned to prison after being accompanied to a guest house in Xemxija to collect her personal belongings. According to standard practice, prisoners are first strip-searched and then have personal items searched.

Ms Vassallo said that while Ms Williams’ luggage was being searched, she saw her placing something inside a folder. The folder had been checked before and nothing irregular was found.

The folder was checked again and the SIM card was found.

Ms Vassallo said her superior, Major Mary Azzopardi, ordered a second strip-search to ensure that nothing else was being concealed. But Ms Williams refused to be strip-searched again and became aggressive.

“All of a sudden she began shouting, saying we are all bull****, that we are full of s***, that we are all bitches and was refusing to go into the search room. She became more aggressive, punching, kicking us, and an order was given for her to be taken to an isolation cell. I grabbed her by one arm and my colleague took her by the other.”

“But she somehow managed to get out of my grip, turned and elbowed me in the face. I was covered in blood and ended up at the health centre having five stitches to my chin,” she told the magistrate.

Asked by the court, Ms Vassallo said: “It was deliberate, surely not accidental.”

During cross examination, Ms Vassallo denied using excessive force to get Ms Williams into the isolation room but added that “no one has her attitude”.

“Her behaviour is just too much. She even tried getting into fights with other inmates,” she said.

Inspector Spiridione Zammit, who is prosecuting, exhibited a total of 13 reports made by correctional officers since Ms Williams was first sent to jail last June.

On that occasion, Ms Williams was remanded in custody after being charged with stealing a suitcase that belonged to a Maltese couple who had arrived on a Ryanair flight from Girona in Spain.

A few days later, she was spotted by chance by the couple in Xemxija, sporting a handbag and sneakers identical to the ones that were in the stolen luggage.

Ms Williams made the headlines after she told Magistrate Carol Peralta to “Kiss her a**.”

Both cases continue on August 27. Lawyer Noel Bianco was defence counsel.