A man who assaulted a police sergeant and three constables at Qawra police station on Sunday afternoon was jailed and fined on Tuesday after insisting five times that he was pleading guilty, despite his lawyer advising him not to.

Saad Mohammed, a 29-year old Sudanese who lives in Marsa, was accused of assaulting the officers with a glass bottle and being in unlawful possession of a knife.  

The aggression was recorded on police bodycam and the relative footage was presented in court by prosecuting Inspector George Frendo.

The accused, assisted by an Arab-speaking interpreter, was told about the consequences of his guilty plea and the effective jail term that the prosecution was insisting upon.

He insisted on his guilty plea and his legal aid lawyer, Christopher Chircop, minuted that he had advised him not to file that plea.  

Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo, observed that the accused had been granted time to reconsider “five times over,” but still pleaded guilty, even after being told that the charges carried a minimum fine of €4000.

In view of that admission, she condemned the man to an eight-month effective jail term and a €4,000 fine.