Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/620988
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 DECEMBER 2015 News 2 Man allegedly raped by two Egyptians only reported being robbed MATTHEW AGIUS QUESTIONS have arisen about rape charges brought against two Egyptian men, after two of the officers who arrested them could only testify to having been told by the victim that the men had robbed him at knifepoint. Last September, 33-year old Ramy Gamal Elasrag was charged with the violent rape of a Filipino youth at a Floriana public garden in August, with 24-year old Helmy Mohammed Elmosaty charged with being an accomplice. Both men are deny- ing the charges. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja yesterday heard a male police constable testify that on 31 Au- gust he had been dispatched from the Valletta police station to deal with a report of theft. Upon arriving at the scene, the policeman said that he found a Filipino man who told him how he had been threatened with a knife by two Arab men, who then stole his bag. The Filipino claimed that he then started shouting for help and in the ensuing mayhem, one of the attackers dropped a mobile phone he had been car- rying. The police had analysed the photos on the phone's memory card in his presence. The Fili- pino had recognised Elmosaty from the photos, said the con- stable. He had declined the po- lice's offer of arranging medical assistance. Further analysis of the photos led the police to Elasrag. The phone number of the dropped handset corresponded with a Facebook account belonging to the Egyptian. The victim had also given a matching descrip- tion of his attackers, said the policeman. Asked by Elasrag's lawyer, George Buttigieg, he replied that the initial phone call to police was made by a foreign watch- man who had been working at a nearby film set. The officer confirmed that the Filipino was fully dressed when he arrived on the scene and had only reported the theft. This account was corroborat- ed by a woman Police Sergeant who also testified that the vic- tim had told her that two Arab men had threatened him with a knife and ordered him to hand over his bag. His description of the clothes worn by the accused matched the clothes in which they had been arrested, she add- ed. The victim did not mention being beaten. The court appointed DNA expert Dr Marisa Cassar to ana- lyse swabs taken from the ac- cused. The case continues in Febru- ary. Inspector Geoffrey Scicluna is prosecuting, while lawyers George Buttigieg and Graziella Attard are appearing for Rami Jamal Elsarage and Helmy Mo- hammed Elmosaty respectively. Three youths arrested over fish farm robbery THREE youths were arrested af- ter being caught stealing 16 kilo- grammes of fish valued at around €300 from a fish farm near Mar- saxlokk. Police said that the Birzebbuga station received an anonymous phone call at 9:30pm on Monday, informing them of a "suspicious- looking" fishing boat at Marsax- lokk. Police officers rushed to the scene near San Lucjan Tower, where they spotted the boat with the three youths on board. The boat then turned back to Qajjenza Bay, where they were met by po- lice who subsequently found the stolen fish inside baskets that were in their possession. Police investigations are ongo- ing. Man with two birthplaces fights extradition request MAT THEW AGIUS A court will decide whether or not a man, whose extradition it is handling, is the right person, after it was noted that the Eu- ropean Arrest Warrant and the Schengen Alert system through which it was issued list two dis- tant countries as his place of birth. Magistrate Aaron Bugeja is hearing the case for the extra- dition of Angelo Frank Paul Spiteri, a former cricketer, to Lithuania. Spiteri is the subject of a Eu- ropean Arrest Warrant in that country, where he, along with two others, is accused of setting up "Atostogu sandèlis" (which loosely translates to Holiday Warehouse) in Vilnius – a false company which would convince its victims to sign accommoda- tion agreements with certain hotels and after signing and re- ceiving payment for this, would deliberately not provide the service for which payment had been made. Among other charges, Spiteri is also accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, using the cover of a legal entity to perform illegal activities, swindling, organis- ing the manufacture of unlawful documents, and forgery of com- pany financial documents. The Lithuanian authorities claim that he absconded from the country in February this year, during the pre-trial investigations. But Spiteri 's defence counsel, law yers Jason Azzopardi, Patrick Valentino and Kris Busietta in- formed Magistrate Bugeja yes- terday that the defence "did not subscribe to the view that the warrant was issued validly". Azzopardi clarified that the defence was of the opinion that, while the warrant itself had been validly issued through the Schengen Information System (SIS II), the identification of the subject of the warrant had not been proven. "The European Arrest Warrant and the SIS II specif y two dif- ferent places of birth: Malta and Australia," said the law yer. "Un- less he has the gift of bilocation it would be highly unlikely that the person is the same. So we have a person born in Malta who is also allegedly born in Austral- ia and according to other docu- mentation, he is also Lithuanian. Three nationalities… a record!" quipped the law yer. The prosecution, police in- spector Mario Cuschieri and law yer Vincienne Vella, pointed out that the photograph of the accused appeared on both docu- ments. They requested permis- sion, which the court granted, to request supplementary infor- mation from the Lithuanian au- thorities in relation to the issue, "given that the place of birth and nationality of the requested per- son mentioned in the alert did not tally with those mentioned in the EAW. " Although the court acceded to this request, Magistrate Bugeja reminded the defence that in such proceedings the court was only obliged to ascertain the identity "on the balance of prob- ability" and not " beyond reason- able doubt". The magistrate gave the parties until the next sitting in January to present all the issues related to the case, after which he would decide on the matter of identifi- cation as well as whether or not to extradite the accused. Court shown security footage of beating outside Zabbar Top Choice MAT THEW AGIUS A court has been shown CCTV footage from a private residence in Zabbar, which shows a man being beaten by two assail- ants, before being bundled into a waiting car, as it continues to hear evidence against two broth- ers accused of kidnapping and grievously injuring their victim. Police Sergeant Arthur Rizzo testified yesterday in the com- pilation of evidence against 27- year old Clayton Azzopardi from St. Paul's Bay, and his brother Dylan, who is 22 and lives in Marsaskala. The two men are charged with holding Luke Vella against his will, attacking and injuring him. The elder brother is also charged with recidivism. It is thought that the attack was related to a sum of money owed to the brothers by a member of Vella's family. Vella was allegedly pulled out of his car by the men who then beat him up, bundled him into the vehicle, and then threw him out. Vella allegedly suffered grievous injuries in the attack, which took place outside Zabbar shop Top Choice in September this year. Sgt Rizzo told Magistrate Aaron Bugeja that he had been stationed at Cospicua on 19 Sep- tember this year, when he was called out to deal with a report of a fight in Zabbar. Rizzo said that on arriving at the scene, police found noth- ing, but they spoke to one of Top Choice's employees who told them that several men had been involved in an argument of a group of three or four men out- side the shop door, and that they had closed the shop as a precau- tion. In court, the employee claimed not to have seen the alleged fisti- cuffs as he had been seeing to a client at the time. He had heard a car horn being honked and thought nothing of it, but short- ly after, a man entered the shop and asked him to call the police. He said he had called the police, after locking the shop door from the inside. He did not see anything, he said, but had heard banging on the door of the shop's adjoining garage. "A search of a car which had been parked near the shop result- ed in the discovery of a kitchen knife, two cable ties fashioned into handcuffs, CS gas and black duct tape," said the officer. An iphone was also recovered from the ground near the front wheel of the vehicle and a Sam- sung mobile phone was found inside the car, together with a pair of shoes. As the shop's security cameras had not captured the event, the police had scrutinised CCTV footage from an adjacent house and had seen Vella running to- wards Top Choice, being chased by a man. Vella is later seen being beaten by two men, who then drag him into a car which drove off to- wards Paul Scicluna Street. Sgt Rizzo said he could not possibly identif y the men on the tape as the accused, but said that as both the men on the tape and the accused had a pronounced difference in their relative stat- ures, it was "a possibility". The case continues in Febru- ary.