A detective in the Police?s K9 narcotics section testified in Magistrates? Court yesterday how he had been physically attacked by a Devonshire woman at Bermuda International Airport in January.

Sirgute Maryam, 21, her brother, Tekle Tucker, 19, both from School Drive in Devonshire and Khyber Pass resident Veronica Franklin, 57, deny various charges including assaulting a Police officer, violently resisting arrest and obstruction of justice.

Det. Con. Andrew Rawlins told the court how on the night of January 5 this year he had been on duty at the airport when a charter flight from Jamaica arrived.

Since all charter flight passengers are searched by Customs, Det. Con. Rawlins said he was working in the Customs? area, observing passengers, when he heard a passenger complain about having to wait so long to be searched.

At that stage passengers from the chartered flight had been in line for almost three hours.

He said he told Maryam to be patient, to which she told him to ?shut up? and mind his own business.

Det. Con. Rawlins described how he then walked over to her in an attempt to calm her down when her brother, Tucker, stepped in front of her and with his arms outstretched ?bumped? him in the chest with his chest in an ?aggressive manner?.

?I pushed him out of my personal space and said: ?Get back?.?

He described how Tucker fell backwards over his luggage and landed on the floor where he was restrained by other officers.

He said Maryam then came at him swinging her arms and hitting him in the chest and shoulders.

Det. Con. Rawlins said he pushed Maryam back, but she once again came at him with her arms swinging and kicking.

He said he held his arm up to avoid being hit and she tore the sleeve off his shirt.

It was then, he told the court, that another officer at the airport rushed over to pulled Maryam from him.

Det. Con. Rawlins described how this officer, Det. Con. Shakisha Minors, pulled Maryam away from him and a struggle ensued in which both Det. Con. Minors and Maryam fell to the ground.

?She finally calmed down,? he told the court.

He said another woman then came forward, identified as Franklin, who grabbed Det. Con . Minors around the waist and tried to pull her off Maryam.

?She was shouting ?stop you wicked Babylon!? he said.

Det. Sgt. Steven Lightbourne then rushed forward and detained Franklin who was arrested for obstructing Det. Con. Minors in her arrest of Maryam.

Det. Con. Rawlins said he cautioned Maryam who replied that she understood and then did the same to her brother Tucker, who replied: ?You wait ?till I see you?.

He said they were then led away to the Customs inspection rooms by another officer, searched and taken to the Airport Police Station where they were processed and eventually bailed.

Asked by the defendants? lawyer, Elizabeth Christopher, about his ?personal space?, Det. Con. Rawlins said ?the space directly in front of me? and admitted to having pushed Tucker who then fell over backwards because he had been ?inside his personal space?.

?His next move could have been a hit to my head. I pushed him. I felt threatened by him when he pushed me in the chest,? he told the court.

He denied that once Tucker fell to the ground he was ?jumped? by half a dozen officers, but agreed that Maryam only reacted after he had pushed her brother to the ground.

Det. Con. Minors told the court she had been assisting a Customs official when her attention was drawn to the waiting line in time to see Maryam lashing out with her arms at Det. Con. Rawlins and hitting him in the upper body.

?I came out from behind the desk and approached Maryam, identifying myself as a Police officer and told her to let go of Det. Con. Rawlins, ?you?re under arrest for assaulting a Police officer?,? she told the court.

She said she pulled Maryam away with assistance of a female Customs officer and instructed Maryam to stop resisting arrest.

?She ignored me and continued to struggle and lash out, swinging her fists and kicking out and she screamed for me to let her go. We eventually struggled to the ground where I spoke to her about her violent behaviour in an attempt to calm her down and told her to stop resisting arrest,? she said.

She said she felt someone grab her from behind around her waist and when she looked back saw Franklin.

?Det. Sgt. Lightbourne assisted me by pulling Miss Franklin away to the side,? she said.

She added Maryam eventually calmed down and was placed in handcuffs and cautioned.

Under questioning by Ms Christopher , shes said she never saw Det. Con. Rawlins push Tucker, only Maryam hitting him (Rawlins).

Ms Christopher asked her about the 20 or so officers who apparently witnessed the entire incident and asked her why she had never taken statements from them as she was in charge of filing a report on the incident.

Det. Con. Minors said she requested statements from Det. Con. Rawlins, Dete. Sgt. Lightbourne and had her own statement.

?So you weren?t interested in getting statements in order to compile a clear, concise file on what happened that night?? Ms. Christopher asked her.

She replied: ?I did not show an interest in gathering everyone?s statements ? only what I thought was necessary.?

But Maryam said Det. Con. Rawlins had come over to them in an aggressive manner with his ?chest all puffed? out and Tucker thought he was going to hurt her.

She said her brother, Tucker, had never touched the officer, only stood between him (Rawlins) and her protecting her with his arms outstretched to the sides.

She admitted to having assaulted Det. Con. Rawlins, but only because he had shoved her brother, causing him to fall.

?I was upset. That?s my little brother. How dare he put his hands on him? I assaulted the Police officer, ? she said.

As for wilfully ripping the officer?s shirt, Maryam said it happened only because she had reached out to grab him, got a sleeve in her hand and when Det. Con. Minors pulled her backwards the shirt sleeve had ripped off.

Her testimony was echoed by her brother Tucker, who told the court that once he hit the ground he never got up again as officers pinned him to the ground.

He said he overheard Det. Con. Rawlins telling other officers that his sister was ?lucky? as he didn?t really feel like ?hitting her?.

Tucker and Maryam both said they saw Franklin standing close by, but never saw her get involved.

Franklin told the the court that she had just passed through Customs when she heard a scream and stepped closer to see what was going on.

She said she could see Tucker on the ground with officers on top of him and stepped forward to see more. She said that?s when Det. Con. Lighbourne told her to ?go back? and she stepped back.

?But then he shouted at me ?get the f*&k back!? very loudly and told me I?d assaulted a Police woman and manhandled a Policeman,? she said.

But she said she had not and was nowhere near Det. Con. Minors. ?I never got that far.?

Oonagh Vaucrosson is representing the Crown while Acting Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo is presiding over the case.