Abner Aquilina attacked psychiatrist at Mt Carmel, court rules
Aquilina given one-year jail sentence as he awaits trial for murder of Paulina Dembska
A man who is due to stand trial for the murder of Paulina Dembska has been given a one-year jail sentence for assaulting a psychiatrist at Mount Carmel Hospital.
Abner Aquilina, 22, was also given a €4,000 fine for the assault.
Aquilina is being held at the forensic unit of the Correctional Services Agency within the psychiatric hospital as he undergoes criminal proceedings for the January 2022 murder of Dembska in a public garden in Sliema.
He has pleaded insanity, but a court has declared him fit to stand trial for that crime.
On September 1, 2022, Aquilina assaulted a psychiatrist at Mount Carmel. He was charged with threatening him, causing him slight injuries and breaching a court order issued in 2018.
When police officers arrived at the scene, the psychiatrist told them that he and his assistant had gone to examine a patient. As they were leaving, he suddenly felt a powerful blow to the head, causing him to fall to the ground. He was later taken to Mater Dei Hospital for medical treatment.
CCTV footage showed Aquilina jumping into the air and striking the victim with a punch and a knee. The victim was seen falling to the ground and hitting his back against a bench. A police officer was then seen restraining the attacker in a corner before he was locked inside a room.
Aquilina was arrested and questioned but refused to cooperate. He began insulting the police officers and prison officials, exposed his genitals, and started laughing.
Magistrate Nadine Sant Lia heard testimony from the psychiatrist, the police officers involved in the case, and the medical officer who had accompanied the psychiatrist during the visit to Monte Carmeli Hospital.
Aquilina knew that the psychiatrist was carrying out an official function within the facility, the court noted. He had not acted spontaneously, but rather intentionally and specifically targeted a person who was acting in the performance of his official duties.
The magistrate found Aquilina guilty and, in addition to the one-year prison sentence and the €4,000 fine, issued a three-year restraining order to protect the psychiatrist.
In a separate case, Aquilina was charged with attacking another patient on January 14, 2023 by stabbing him in the eye with a pen following an argument between them.
However, he was acquitted because the evidence showed that the assault had actually taken place the following day, on January 15, 2023. As a result, the prosecution failed to prove the charge as it had been filed.