Missing asylum seeker charged with assaulting woman last October

A 32-year-old asylum seeker who had gone missing from the Ħal Far Open Centre has been charged with assaulting and slightly injuring a woman in an incident last October.

Inspector Gabriel Micallef told magistrate Abigail Critien that the victim had filed a report at the Valletta police station about the incident, telling the police that her assailant had approached her from behind while she had been walking in Floriana and attacked her.

He said that the person who committed the attack was subsequently identified from CCTV footage as Juman Ahmed from Sudan, who was taken into custody in Sliema on Monday.

Ahmed pleaded not guilty to charged of slightly injuring the woman, attacking her and breaching the peace. His lawyer requested bail.

Inspector Micallef objected to the bail request on the grounds that Ahmed was currently reported as missing from the Open Centre. He had no fixed address. There are civilian witnesses who were yet to testify, he said.

Lawyer Martin Farrugia, representing Ahmed as legal aid defence counsel, argued that there was no risk of tampering with evidence as it was already in the possession of the police. “My client is presumed innocent and has a clean criminal record. There are none of the factors mentioned in the law which militate against bail.”

The court denied the bail request.