Burglar who hurled spanner at police sentenced to 14 months

A man who hurled a spanner and a bucket at police officers as they arrested him for bursting open a slot machine has been sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Judge Liam Yeats said there were several aggravating factors including the fact that he had already been convicted for burgling the same premises in the past.

42 year old Angelo Podesta had been out of prison for just three weeks after serving a sentence for a previous burglary. He was also on bail for another alleged offence.

He broke into a bar in the area of Watergardens, raided the till stealing a handful of coins, and later used a screwdriver and large spanner to force open a gambling machine.

Police officers arrived on the scene to arrest him, at which point he grabbed a mop bucket and threw it at one of the officers, hitting him in the leg. He also hurled the spanner at the officers, narrowly missing one of them.

In court, Podesta begged for a community service order, saying he was willing to do anything.

His lawyer, Lee Debono, said Podesta was trying to rehabilitate himself from his drug addiction, and had relapsed following the death of a family member.

But Mr Justice Yeats said the defendant had a long list of previous convictions, including burglary and assault on police.

He said the risk of re-offending was high, and had already targeted the same premises in the past.

He gave him credit for an early guilty plea, but sentenced him to 14 months in prison.

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