A woman intentionally rammed a Mercedes Benz into a Ħamrun confectionary shopfront on Easter Sunday while drunk, a court heard on Monday.

Sonia Sammut, 35 and of Ħamrun, is alleged to have smashed the car into the store’s shutter at 9.30pm, in an apparent dispute over rent. Two people were inside the Manuel Magri Street shop at the time.

Sammut does not have a driving licence and had alcohol levels above the legal limit when breathalysed at the scene. She also declared that she is unemployed. 

She was arraigned before Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace on Monday and charged with intentionally causing more than €2,500 worth of damage to the shop, drink-driving, driving without a licence or insurance, driving in a reckless manner, breaching the peace and being a recidivist.

Prosecuting inspector Sarah Kathleen Zerafa told the court that CCTV footage showed Sammut ramming the car into the store’s shutter, reversing and then ramming it a second time. She was visibly drunk and was breathalysed, the inspector said.

Zerafa said Sammut and one of the shop’s employees have a dispute over rent and had clashed over the matter.

Sammut’s lawyer, Jose Herrera, disputed that version of events and said the employee had threatened his client.

He however acknowledged that Sammut was over the legal drink-driving limit and attributed that to Easter celebrations. 

The lawyer noted that Sammut has three children, with two of them younger than eight. She needed to take care of them, he told the court.

Those pleas did not sway the court, however, which turned down the bail request and remanded the woman in custody.