Man allegedly sexually harassed woman after offering to help her recover a stolen bag

A man has denied allegations related to the alleged brutal sexual assault of a woman in Msida last Tuesday.

Afewerki Teklesembet Yohannes, 41, an Eritrean from Pieta, appeared before Judge Donatella Frendo Dimech on Monday. He is accused of using a weapon to force the woman to perform a non-consensual sexual act in a bar in Msida on September 3.

In addition, he was accused of holding the woman against her will, forcing unwanted sexual behavior on her, making her fear violence, slightly injuring her and stealing her smartwatch.

Police Inspector Michael Vella, who is representing the prosecution together with lawyer Nadia Ciappara from the Attorney General's Office, told the court that the woman went to a police patrol and told them that she had “just been raped”. The woman then showed the accused to the police.

Police were told that the woman and her boyfriend had been at Rocky Beach in Paceville earlier in the evening when her bag went missing. A man had approached the couple and said he could help them. He told them to go to a bar in Msida so the thief could return the bag to her.

He also told the woman that they would give her the bag if she was Colombian, but not if her boyfriend was European. So the boyfriend agreed to stay behind. He gave the woman his phone and told her to call the emergency number if anything happened.

At the Msida bar, where she was supposed to meet the man, the woman sensed that something was wrong, but when she tried to leave the bar, she found that the door was locked. The man, Yohannes, then allegedly grabbed her breasts and ripped off her smartwatch.

When the woman's boyfriend heard the scuffle behind the door, he kicked the door open and saved her.

He found the defendant with a hammer and the woman's mobile phone and immediately handed them over to the man.

After his arrest, Yohannes was taken to hospital to receive treatment for hand injuries. When questioned afterwards, the man gave an audio-visual statement in which he denied everything and insisted that it was the couple who had approached him in St. Julian's.

However, since his prison sentence was about to expire, the man was released on bail that same evening and was arrested again the next day when he returned to the police station.

The man pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Lawyer Franco Debono, who is representing the accused together with lawyer Adreana Zammit, requested bail on the grounds that the man has been living in Malta for 13 years and is employed.

Inspector Vella told the court that although the man was registered with jobsplus as a self-employed restaurant owner, no restaurant was listed because the work address provided was his home address.

Debono stressed that the “most important thing” was the fact that after his release on bail, he complied with the bail conditions and attended his appointment at the police station. “We have an address, a bail, a permanent address,” the lawyer said.

Judge Frendo Dimech pointed out that he had claimed to have full-time employment but did not know where he worked, which presented the defendant with a new challenge. “He said he worked in construction today! Who does he work with in construction?”

The defense explained that Yohannes had previously worked in construction and was “now preparing to open his own restaurant.”

The court noted that the man's lawyer did his best but the accused insisted on shooting himself in the leg and informed the parties that the decision on bail would be taken in the courtroom.