A mother-of-two who allegedly reacted aggressively when police were called in to handle a disturbance at a Qawra bar on Sunday night, was denied bail upon her arraignment on Tuesday.

Zsanett Balzan, a 36-year old Hungarian national from Mgarr put up a struggle, refused to obey police orders and even kicked one of the officers who  escorted her to the district station, the court heard. 

The bar owner first called the Qawra police station at around 8:15pm, asking for assistance.

When the officers got to the bar, they were told that their help was no longer needed. But shortly after, a second call for assistance came through.

The bar owner told the officers who answered his call that he was forced to close the bar because the woman, who was drunk, was disturbing the peace.

When police asked for her documents, the woman refused to hand over the papers.

As the officers led her away she put up a struggle and even kicked one of the officers in the face, explained prosecuting Inspector Ryan Vella during the arraignment.

The woman, now sober and visibly very nervous, pleaded not guilty to being drunk in public, failing to obey legitimate police orders, refusing to give her personal details, attacking the officers, insulting and threatening five, slightly injuring three of them and wilfully breaching the peace.

She also denied breaching previous bail conditions.

Her lawyer, Marco Ciliberti, requested bail, arguing that evidence was preserved on the police bodycams and the only civilian witness to testify would not affect the case. 

The court heard how the accused had an alcohol problem and was already under a treatment order issued by another court after a previous incident.

The magistrate denied bail in light of the circumstances and after taking note of the nature and seriousness of the case.

Also noting the woman’s antecedents, the court said that it had no assurance that the accused would abide by bail conditions. The woman was already on bail and had been found guilty of similar offences in 2020.