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MW 23 August 2017

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2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 AUGUST 2017 News Fancy cap led police to throat- slashing mugger, court told MATTHEW AGIUS A vicious mugger who slashed a young woman's throat for her valuables a year ago was identified by his cap, a court has been told. The compilation of evidence against Rawad Briga Abdel- salam, a 32-year-old quarry worker, continued before magistrate Doreen Clarke yesterday. Briga is accused of the attempted homicide of a 25-year-old woman from Mar- saxlokk. The violent mugging took place in Sqaq Lourdes, St Julian's on 28 August, 2016, at around 4:20am. Abdelsalam is thought to have approached the victim and her friend, a 33-year-old woman from Poland, and tried to steal their handbags. At one point, he is alleged to have pulled a knife on the girls and tried to cut the Maltese wom- an's throat, before making off with her handbag. The victims were given first aid by passers-by who also called an ambulance. The Maltese woman was then taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where she was treated for seri- ous, although not life-threat- ening, injuries. Prosecuting Inspector Sav- iour Baldacchino summoned a police sergeant from the Criminal Investigation De- partment to testify. The of- ficer had been one of the first people on the scene and had questioned a number of French nationals who had been spoken to by the victims. "They said that the girls, one of them bleeding heavily, had knocked on their door and asked for help as they had just been robbed." Inspector Baldacchino also took the witness stand, tell- ing the magistrate that he had started his investigation by gathering CCTV from a num- ber of establishments in the area. In the course of the in- vestigation, Baldacchino had noticed that an ATM cam- era had picked up a man who matched the description given by the witnesses. He pieced together the CCTV jigsaw puzzle and took stock of what the man was wearing, he said. "What was interesting in this footage is what he was wear- ing. He had a cap with a very particular, striking, design." But despite this clue, the police were still no closer to finding the attacker. The investigation's big break took place weeks later, as po- lice searched a house belong- ing to a man who was suspect- ed of carrying out a similar mugging in Paceville. "As soon as I walked in," the Inspector said. "I noticed this particular cap hanging in the hall." It was not a commonly-seen design, he said. An intensive search led police to also find a pair of shorts, worn during the attack on the Maltese woman, inside the washing machine, he said. 'I remember there was a great deal of blood' Another police officer, sta- tioned at St Julian's at the time of the stabbing took the witness stand. "I remem- ber there was a great deal of blood... There was blood on the wall and the ground. The victim wasn't there when I ar- rived, she was already gone." During the man's arraign- ment, the court had been shown photos taken at the scene of the crime, which showed a blood-stained pave- ment and a blood-drenched car. A third witness, a police sergeant, told the court that Abdelsalam had explained to police that he had been with another person behind Axis and had consumed some pills with alcohol before the at- tack. He had admitted to car- rying out the mugging and claimed to have struck the woman with the knife "by mistake," said the officer. He remembered him saying that he had thrown her mobile phone into the sea, the ser- geant added. The compilation of evidence continues in September. Law yer Joseph Ellis ap- peared for Abdelsalam, filling in for law yer Francina Abela. Student's drunken attack on police costs him €4,000 MATTHEW AGIUS AN English language stu- dent has been fined €4,000 and handed a suspended prison sentence for a drunk- en attack on police in St Ju- lian's early yesterday morn- ing. Police Inspector Nikolai Sant told magistrate Doreen Clarke how Kemal Burak Ozevci, 22, from Turkey had been arrested at 1am in St George Street, Paceville for violently resisting police of- ficers who had noticed him carrying and consuming al- cohol in a prohibited area. Bye-laws introduced by the local council in 2008 ex- pressly prohibit the carrying of glass or unsealed alcohol containers in the Paceville area and impose a fine on transgressors. Ozevci was charged with violently resisting public of- ficers acting on lawful au- thority, insulting or threat- ening them, being drunk in a public area and breaching the St Julian's bye-laws on alcoholic containers. Lawyer Joe Ellis, who was appointed as legal aid to the accused, did not contest the validity of the arrest. Ozevci pleaded guilty to the charges. In his submissions on pun- ishment, Ellis observed that the youth had only limited financial means, being an English language student. He asked the court to con- sider going below the mini- mum €4,000 penalty for violent resistance in the circumstances. The lawyer said the accused was truly sorry for what happened, "although he didn't remem- ber much about the incident as he was drunk." Inspector Sant suggested that the court might prefer to give him a timeframe in which to pay the fine, point- ing out that the youth could be arrested under a Euro- pean or International arrest warrant if he failed to pay the fine. In view of his admission, Ozevci was handed a six month sentence, suspended for two years and a fine of €4,000 for the violence. He was also fined €65 for the breach of the local bye-laws. The court allowed Ozevci one year in which to pay the total €4,065 fine, warn- ing him that failure to do so would result in his being arrested and brought back to Malta to serve the six- month prison sentence. Man accused of drug trafficking, lives inside garage MATTHEW AGIUS A court was told that a man arrested by the Drugs Squad in St Julian's on Sunday lives in a garage. Adrian Zammit, 22, from San Gwann appeared in the dock before magistrate Do- reen Clarke yesterday, charged with possession of cocaine and aggravated possession of cannabis Zammit was arrested during the weekend at the end of a police surveillance operation and was found to be in posses- sion of 250 grammes of what is suspected to be cannabis and cocaine, which were ready for trafficking. A digital scale, a number of plastic sachets and €600 in cash, among other things, were also found in his posses- sion, police said in a statement issued after the man's arrest. Inspector Gabriel Micallef charged Zammit with aggra- vated possession of cannabis and possession of cocaine, as well as with driving a car without insurance cover or a road licence, driving with false plates and committing an offence during the period of a suspended prison sen- tence. Zammit's defence counsel, lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia, entered a plea of not guilty to the charg- es and requested bail. Inspector Micallef did not object to the request for bail but expressed some concern at the fact that the accused, by his own admission, resided in a garage. Even the charges list the San Gwann garage as the man's address, he said. Debono argued that this was no reason to refuse bail. "This is his residence... that's where he lives. There are no civilian witnesses who can be sub- orned." The court upheld the request for bail, releasing the man from custody against a deposit of €2,000 and a personal guar- antee of €10,000 as security. It ordered that the acts of the case be assigned to a magis- trate according to law. Party choker thief pays victim €600 in court MAT THEW AGIUS AN Italian holidaymaker has been convicted of theft after he admitted stealing a choker and pendant from around another man's neck at a party. Inspector Elliott Ma- gro arraigned 20-year-old Bruno Valeriani, who is on holiday in Malta, before magistrate Doreen Clarke on charges of theft and breaching the peace. He explained that Vale- riani was detained by se- curity after the incident took place at the Numero Uno club in Rabat during the early hours of Monday morning. He was later ar- rested. The youth pleaded guilty to charges of theft and breaching the peace. During the sitting, Va- leriani's defence law yer, Stefano Filletti, handed over €600 from his client in reparation for the item stolen. In view of his guilty plea, the Italian was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years.

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