Man accused of rape 'threatened to punch' girl if she resisted

Witnesses testified in the compilation of evidence against Seykou Ballde, accused of the violent indecent assault and attempted rape of a Maltese girl in Paceville last December

Seykou Ballde managed to escape from the police station when he was first arrested
Seykou Ballde managed to escape from the police station when he was first arrested

A court has heard how a Guinean man, accused of attempting to rape a Maltese woman last December, threatened to punch her if he was not allowed to have his way with her.

A string of police and expert witnesses made a strong case for the prosecution before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, as the compilation of evidence against Seykou Ballde, accused of the violent indecent assault and attempted rape of a Maltese girl in Paceville last December.

Ballde had been arrested in the act, in St. Julians at around 3am on 15 December last year by a nearby RIU police patrol who had been alerted by the victim’s screams.

The man had been taken to the St Julian’s police station, but escaped after slipping out of loose handcuffs, exiting the police station from the back door. He was apprehended the following day at 11pm in Qawra on the pavement near a bar, talking to a friend and claiming to be David Bah.

This morning, PC Alan Cutajar from the RIU testified how he was conducting a vehicle patrol of the area on the day of the attack. At around 3:10 am he heard a girl screaming “stop stop stop” in Maltese. He stopped to investigate, stepped out of the car and found two people in the grass “not one metre away from the car door”.

He told the court that he found the accused on top of a girl “with his trousers half down and his manhood exposed”. The girl had no trousers or underwear on.

WPC Leanne Farrugia was called to the witness stand and explained her involvement in the case. She had accompanied two other policemen to the scene where the victim had told her that she was walking in the area and saw that the accused was following her. The victim said that she slowed her pace to let him pass, but instead he attacked, warning her “if I don’t put it in, I will punch you”.

“She was sitting on the wall, a policeman’s jacket covering her modesty, while the RIU were in the process of arresting the accused. She had scratches on her face and was visibly shocked. The victim said the she resisted the accused and he had punched her,” said Farrugia.

By all witness accounts, the accused had resisted arrest, hitting one policeman in the eye with his elbow.

PC Steven Micallef from the RIU gave an almost identical account of what happened.  Asked how he had reached the conclusion that the attack was an attempted rape, he said “he was on top of her, her legs were open and the two people were in a sexual position,” he said after much prompting by the magistrate.

PC Micallef, who had given the girl his raincoat, “as she was shivering”, said the girl had blood in her mouth and nose. Asked by the prosecution what the accused was wearing, he said, “As I arrested the man, he was naked from the waist down.”

“From his movements, he looked like he was trying to have intercourse with her and she looked like she was trying to push him off”.

It emerged that Ballde had previously been arraigned for attacking a prostitute and had been granted bail. However in spite of being ordered to sign a bail book daily and observe a curfew between 10pm and 7am, the accused had never done so.

Anthony Cutajar defended Ballde.

Police Inspector Trevor Micallef led the prosecution, while lawyer Peter Fenech appeared in parte civile for the victim.

The case continues.