Suspended sentence for road rage incident

The court has sentenced a man to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, for threatening and assaulting two police officers after a minor traffic collision with another driver.

Ryan Dimech, 37, from Żebbuġ, was accused of having threatened and physically assaulted the police officers who happened to be driving past shortly after the collision involving Mr Dimech’s truck and a vehicle driven by a woman.

The incident occurred in St Paul’s Bay at around 7am on 22 November, 2007, when Mr Dimech’s truck collided with a vehicle in the vicinity of the Erba’ Mwieżeb roundabout.

Following the collision, an argument erupted between Mr Dimech and the driver of the other vehicle. A police officer intervened.

The police officer’s arrival was met with further anger from Mr Dimech, leading the officer to call for backup.

Allegedly, this only added to the increasing anger of the accused, who resisted arrest.

Mr Dimech kicked and punched the officers in the ensuing scuffle, the court heard.

One officer had his glasses smashed and another needed medical treatment due to a spike in blood pressure.

According to the court report, Mr Dimech was swearing and banging on the doors of the police car while he was being driven to the station.

The court, which was presided over by magistrate Marse-ann Farrugia, noted that the police officers and the accused held differing accounts of the events that took place.

The Magistrate said that the testimony of the woman driver was to be given more weight since she was the most independent witness.

It was said that Mr Dimech had reacted violently when the police suggested that the drivers call the wardens and their vehicles so as not to obstruct the traffic flow.

The court said that while the accused had anger management issues, he held a stable job and was committed to improving himself.

It was for this reason that an effective prison sentence was not deemed to be appropriate.

Thus, the court sentenced Mr Dimech to an 18-month jail term, which was suspended for four years, and placed the man under a Supervision Order for three years. The court also ordered him to foot the bill for the police officer’s broken specs, amounting to €60.56.

The prosecution was represented by Inspector Gabriel Micallef.