A patient who refused admittance at Mount Carmel Hospital while being examined at the Mater Dei emergency department ended up in jail after punching a police officer who tried to restrain him.

Sean Sinclaire Pace, 36, who has no fixed address, was yesterday sentenced to one year in jail and fined €1,000 over the incident, which happened on October 13.

The court heard how the commotion erupted when the man was being treated in one of the cubicles and a police officer who was on duty at Emergency Department tried to intervene to calm him down. The man however, acted violently and punched the police officer in the head several times.

In its decision, the court, presided by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, noted that the accused had already been convicted several times but it seemed he had not learnt his lesson.

It was also pointed out that acts of violence against public officials should be treated very seriously in line with law amendments enacted in 2014, which introduced harsher penalties on such crimes.

In view of this the court inflicted a prison term as well as a fine.