Convicted of 3 out of 8 charges including resisting police and causing light injuries — AG appeal for more convictions dismissed
Qorti tal-Appell Kriminali · Justice Neville Camilleri B.A., M.A., LL.D. · 8 April 2026
In the early hours of 7 July 2025, police officers responded to a disturbance outside a Paceville establishment where three women were arguing with a security guard. Despite being told to calm down, Katherin Torres Castano became violent, assaulted female police officer PC 2395 Alessia Bonello, causing certified light injuries, resisted arrest and created a public disturbance. She was charged with 8 offences. The Magistrates Court convicted her of 3 charges (resisting police, threatening/insulting an officer, and breach of public peace), found her not guilty of the remaining 5, and issued a warning rather than a custodial sentence. The AG appealed seeking conviction on the 4 additional counts. The Criminal Court of Appeal dismissed the AG's entire appeal.
The Criminal Court of Appeal dismissed all of the AG's grounds for overturning the acquittals on the 4 additional counts (physical assault causing light injuries, insulting a public official, threatening behaviour, and drunk and disorderly). The court applied the established principle that an appellate court should not disturb a first court's assessment of witness credibility and factual findings unless that assessment was manifestly wrong — i.e. no reasonable court could have reached the same conclusion. The first court had specifically preferred the defendant's account over that of the police officers on the disputed counts. The court also noted that the first court had sent a copy of the judgment to the Police Commissioner to consider whether any administrative action was warranted against the officers involved — an unusual rebuke. The sentence of a formal warning was confirmed.