Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503999
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JULY 2023 2 MATTHEW AGIUS A man was remanded in custo- dy on charges of having raped a Polish backpacker, after meeting her on a couchsurfing app. Police Inspectors John Spiteri and Elisia Scicluna, assisted by prosecutor Darlene Grima from the office of the Attorney General, arraigned 27-year-old Saliou Balde from Senegal be- fore Magistrate Joseph Gatt on Tuesday. Balde, who resides in Mar- sa, told the court that he had been working as a tile layer for a Maltese company for the past eight years, was charged with rape, committing a non-con- sensual sexual act. Inspector Spiteri testified about what led to the man's ar- rest. On 10 July, a Polish wom- an filed a report at the Zebbug police station, explaining that she was backpacking in Mal- ta and wanted to travel across Europe. She had booked a stay with the defendant through a couch- surfing app, which aims to al- low people to rent out spare rooms to travellers on a tight budget. The woman told the police that she had understood that Balde was providing a sin- gle room at his residence where she could spend the night. But when the woman arrived with all her luggage at the property at around 10pm on 4 July4, she discovered to her horror that she would be shar- ing a bedroom with the male host. With no other accommoda- tion options immediately avail- able, the exhausted woman had gone to bed. That night, the inspector said, Balde had made unwelcome sexual advances and touched her inappropri- ately. "Ignoring her when she told him to stop and in spite of her resistance, he then raped her." In an exchange of messages after the incident, the woman had also made it clear that the man's actions were unwelcome and deplorable. "The defend- ant had not contradicted this, rather he replied to her saying that he was sorry and that he had been drunk." Balde was subsequently ar- rested on Sunday. Cross-examined by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, representing the defendant together with lawyer Kris Busietta, the in- spector confirmed that accord- ing to the statements released by the parties, the defendant and alleged victim had gone to the shops together before the incident. The lawyer pointed out that the defendant's brother and another woman were also pres- ent in the property at the time. "We asked the victim why she didn't try to leave the room. She said that she was initial- ly going to go to his brother's room, but changed her mind after it occurred to her that he might interpret it as an invita- tion to sexual activity, too." It was later clarified that the person described as a broth- er was, in fact only a fellow Senegalese national and not a blood relative, rendering him a competent and compellable witness. Both the defendant and al- leged victim had told the police that they had consumed one bottle of beer each, as well as marijuana. "He said that he had been drunk and, in fact, told us that he didn't even remember the incident," said the inspector, adding however that the pros- ecution "had doubts" as to how sexual intercourse could have been physically possible in that scenario. Before asking the man what he was pleading, the magistrate informed him that the charges were serious and that he faced a considerable prison sentence if found guilty. A plea of not guilty was en- tered on the defendant's behalf by his lawyers, who then asked that he be granted bail. Azzopardi suggested that the police were in possession of mobile phone messages sent to the defendant by the woman in the days after, in which she ex- pressed displeasure with what happened, adding that the de- fendant had replied "to the effect that both of them were drunk…and that he apologised if he touched her without con- sent, but that he did not know that he did it." The lawyer also highlighted the fact that several days had passed between the incident and the filing of the police re- port. Prosecutor Darlene Grima objected to the bail request, expressing concern about the possibility of the defendant tampering with evidence or intimidating the victim, whose number he knew and whose social media profiles he had ac- cess to. Grima said that the alleged victim had sent only one mes- sage to the defendant, who then sent her a stream of mes- sages. Inspector Spiteri added that the woman had told the police that she wanted to move on after suffering the unwanted encounter, but the man's in- sistent messaging was acting as a constant reminder to her of what happened. He said it was "too early a stage for justice to not only be done but to be seen to be done." The court denied bail at this stage due to the grievous na- ture of the accusations and the fact that the alleged victim had not yet testified. A protection order was also issued in favour of the woman. Azzopardi complained that the witness could have been brought to testify today, but the inspector pointed out that if the prosecution had done so, it would have opened it up to being accused of forum shop- ping by the defence. The court explained the seri- ous consequences of breaching the protection order to the de- fendant, who was remanded in custody. Host accused of raping Polish backpacker No bail for man accused of threatening pregnant ex with a penknife MATTHEW AGIUS A man from Qormi has denied threaten- ing his eight-month pregnant ex-girlfriend with a penknife. The defendant, a 29-year-old Egyptian national who told the court he worked as a plasterer, was arraigned before magis- trate Joseph Gatt on Tuesday on domestic violence charges. He was also accused of recidivism. Police Inspector Omar Zammit, prose- cuting, told the court that the alleged vic- tim had called the Bormla police station at 8:30pm on Sunday, to report that her ex-boyfriend was behind her front door, threatening her. Officers had gone to the scene and moved the man away. A short while later the woman, who is eight months pregnant with the defend- ant's baby, left the house to go on an er- rand. The defendant followed her and allegedly threatened her with a knife, the inspector said. The police had called up the man, in- structing him to go to the police Domestic Violence Unit to be questioned, and was arrested after failing to comply. After the defence suggested that the cou- ple were married, Inspector Zammit clar- ified that the marriage had contracted an Islamic marriage which had not been offi- cially registered. The magistrate rejected a defence request to allow the parties to approach the bench and discuss the case with him in private. Defence lawyer Noel Bianco entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client and requested bail. The lawyer submitted that expecting a baby is always stressful to the relationship and that arguments sometimes happened. Threats were a different matter, he said. The incident occurred when the man had been engaged to do a job at a property that happened to be opposite his wife's house, said the lawyer. The defendant bumped in- to her and had asked her whether she was OK, he said. "There was no violence involved and this does not merit remanding him in custo- dy," submitted the lawyer. Inspector Zammit added that the police had found the 7cm long penknife at the man's house, and that the victim had rec- ognised it. "The victim is scared and the defendant refuses to guarantee that he won't contact her. The day after the incident, he turned off his phone to avoid police calls and called her up from a friend's number. "He told us that if he had known what we wanted to talk to him about he wouldn't even have come," added the inspector. Bianco submitted that the woman's rec- ognition of the knife was not proof of any- thing, arguing that it was obvious that she would know that he owned a small pen- knife, having lived with him for some time. The court turned down the bail request at this stage in view of the nature of the charges and the fact that the court was not convinced that the defendant would obey the bail conditions it could impose. A protection order was also issued in fa- vour of the woman, with the magistrate explaining to the defendant that he was forbidden from making any contact with the alleged victim whatsoever. "Any imaginable way you can think of somehow speaking to her, get it out of your head. Baby or no baby," warned the court.