A St Paul’s Bay bar owner was sentenced to a six-month jail term suspended for a year after admitting to slightly injuring two police officers. 

Ludvic Paul Muscat, 44, was charged with violently resisting the officers, who were called to Triq Efesu, St Paul’s Bay at 6am on August 1, following reports of an argument. 

Inspector Matthew Galea told court that the officers had found Muscat drunk. The bar owner was charged with violently resisting the two officers and slightly injuring them as well as being drunk and breaching the peace.

Muscat pleaded guilty to the charges. 

Representing the accused, lawyer Rachel Tua said Muscat claimed he had been attacked by unknown individuals at his bar with a knife just 10 minutes prior to the police officers’ arrival and had mistaken them for his alleged attackers.

When the police knocked at the door, the accused assumed that the assailant had returned and came out swinging, answering the door with a slap.

The police officers had been wearing black, she explained, as had Muscat’s alleged attackers. 

The court sentenced Muscat to a six-month jail term, suspended for one year, and a fine of €4,000. He was also ordered not to approach the officers involved in the incident.