A man, in Malta on a one-year work permit due to expire next week, landed himself in hot water after turning aggressive when police tried to defuse an argument that broke out in Valletta on Thursday.

Denys Mazenko, a 41-year-old Ukrainian worker living at St Paul’s Bay, was charged on Friday with violently resisting police arrest, threatening, insulting and spitting at the officers, refusing to obey legitimate orders, breaching the peace and being drunk in public.

Prosecuting Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee explained that a call had reached the Valletta police station alerting them about some commotion that had broken out at the taxi stand near Tritons Square some time after 12.30pm on Thursday.

Two policemen arriving on site had found the man in a highly agitated state, apparently under the influence of alcohol.

Attempts to calm him down proved futile and the man allegedly kept up the struggle all the way to the police station where he continued to behave very aggressively, slamming himself on the floor. 

It was a very subdued and “totally changed” man who was escorted to court on Friday, bearing some superficial facial injuries and pleading not guilty to the charges. 

A request for bail was objected to in view of the fact that police officers were still to testify and also because of the risk of absconding.

However, legal aid lawyer Joseph Bonnici countered that the man had a wife and a child and a work permit renewable on a yearly basis.

After hearing submissions by both parties, the court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €300, a personal guarantee of €2,500, an order to sign the bail book daily and to abide by a curfew between 8pm and 8am.

The man’s passport was also deposited in court.