Bail denied for Ivorian charged with theft, bodily harm

A court has denied bail to an Ivorian man accused of bodily harm and theft this afternoon, in spite of a vigorous defence by his counsel.

Moumen Troure had originally been arraigned under arrest on 8 June this year, accused of having stolen items from Arcadia, on two occasions, one in 2014 and another on 7June this year, relapsing and with breaching a probation order.

Troure was also accused of creating a public nuisance and causing slight injury to two men who performed a citizen's arrest on him at Arkadia and in addition, the Ivorian had been charged with not handing over to the police, within two months, a mobile phone which had been lost that he had found.

However, during submissions, it had emerged that one of the alleged victims had sustained a grievous injury, which exceeded the competence of the court of magistrates and so a compilation of evidence had been ordered.

However, Troure’s lawyer Joseph Mifsud claimed that no answers were forthcoming when he inquired as to what would become of his client and so he was requesting bail. “It’s a good thing that I filed this application because it helps them remember that there is an accused who is a human being.”

Mifsud argued that the accused had not arrived on a flight but by boat and that he had an ID card issued by the state, which he said, rendered an objection to bail on the grounds of lack of ties to Malta baseless. “Even a Maltese person can skip bail,” said the lawyer.

The case would take time to be heard and decided due to the compilation of evidence and it might mean that the accused would be made to spend more time in custody than his eventual sentence. “It is true that the accused was a bit naughty, but he is still presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.”

However lawyer Anthony Vella, from the office of the Attorney General, pointed out that the victim had suffered broken ribs, which constituted grievous bodily harm. “Our objections to bail stem from the accused’s lack of strong ties to Malta. He changes his addresses frequently and witnesses are yet to be heard.”

Inspector Trevor Micallef informed the court that Troure had received three sentences in three years, spending some time as an inmate at Corradino prisons.

The court noted that simply being in possession of an ID card does not make it any less likely for the holder to abscond and added that the ultimate punishment would likely be substantially longer than the length of preventive arrest and therefore this did not constitute a reason for bail.

It held that the request for bail was premature as the place from where the thefts occurred, as well as the victims, were readily identifiable and that the accused had previous convictions and had breached probation.

The magistrate, however, urged the prosecution to put forward its witnesses as expeditiously as possible to minimize the time spent in detention.