Three Police officers were injured as they tried to restrain a man who tried to run away after being warned he was about to be searched because of his behaviour in the early hours of last Saturday.

Raymond Winslow Burgess was jailed for six months after being found guilty of assaulting three Police officers, and having earlier pleaded guilty to obstructing an officer.

His jailing should act as a warning to other young people who engage in rowdy behaviour during nights out and end up hitting out at the Police, said Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner. Burgess, 27, was seen running from the Emporium building on Front Street shortly before 3 a.m. on September 17 as police dealt with a large fight inside the Ozone nightclub.

Giving evidence at the Magistrate?s court Acting Sgt. Paul Simons said he was guarding the unoccupied Police cars outside the nightclub when he saw a man with braided hair run from the Emporium building to a car parking lot on the opposite side of Front Street.

The man, who he identified in court as Burgess, got into a red car and drove off.

Acting Sgt. Simons pursued Burgess and caused him to pull over at Number One Shed on Front Street. Burgess, of Hurst Crescent, Pembroke Parish, got out of the car and was asked by the officer why he had run from the Emporium building.

Burgess replied: ?I didn?t do nothing! What do the Police want me for??

Acting Sgt. Simons told the court: ?At this time he appeared to be nervous and stood in front of the driver side door in which he looked on a few occasions.?

Two more officers then arrived to assist and, as they approached, Acting Sgt. Simons told Burgess that he intended to search him under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Burgess replied: ?You are not taking me. I?ll f*** you up.?

He then ran off across Front Street but was pursued by the three officers. Sgt. Simons said a violent struggle ensued and he saw Burgess hit the two other officers P.c Derek Simmons and P.c. Odessa Phillip in the face.

Sgt. Simons suffered injury to his right wrist, right forearm and the right-side of his hip. He was later treated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for a suspected fractured wrist.

P.c. Simmons and P.c. Phillip both appeared as witnesses in court and corroborated the evidence of Acting Sgt. Simons.

Burgess was given the opportunity to cross-exam the witnesses and to present his own evidence but declined saying that he needed to have legal representation.

Senior Magistrate Mr. Warner had earlier decided to go ahead with the trial after the legal counsel for Burgess failed to appear at court at the appointed time. Burgess called on one witness, Aria Marshall, formerly of North Cote Avenue, Pembroke, who told the court she had seen the Police hit Burgess after he had tried to run away.

Before being sentenced Burgess apologised to the court. He said: ?This is my first offence on an assault charge. I?m not known to fight or get in trouble like that. I ask the court to take into account the fact that I have a two year-old daughter and ask that it be lenient. I?m sorry for all this. I?m trying to further my education in school.?

Senior Magistrate Mr. Warner said: ?This court will not tolerate this type of behaviour in the early morning and assaults on the Police. You and your friends must know that it must stop.?

Burgess was given three months imprisonment for the obstruction charge and six months imprisonment for each of the three assault charges, to be served concurrently.