officers early on Sunday morning.

Shannon Scraders, 18, of St. Mary's Road, pulled and tugged at Police as they tried to arrest his friend on Front Street in connection with an alleged sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl.

Scraders grabbed at one officer's neck and the other's arm for which he was also arrested.

He told the Police officers: "You shouldn't have arrested my brethren.'' Duty counsel Kim Wilson told Magistrates' Court that Scraders knew the circumstances of the alleged assault and was astonished when Police officers arrested his friend.

But she also said: "We cannot excuse this sort of behaviour.

"We must severely discourage people from interfering with the Police.'' At the time of the incident, Scraders was in the middle of a two-year probation sentence due to end in August 2000. He had spent two nights in Police custody before appearing in court.