Obsessed man scaled a wall to get into ex girlfriend's house, court told

A Portuguese man who scaled a wall to enter his ex-girlfriend's house through an upstairs balcony has been remanded in custody after a court was told that he had ignored bail conditions intended to stop him from harassing the woman.

Paolo Miguel Da Costa Osorio, 50, who has no fixed address, had told the police that he still loved his ex, Inspector Hubert Cini explained. The accused had spent 16 years in a relationship with a Maltese woman, which had then broken down.

Inspector Cini told magistrate Ian Farrugia how, on July 20, the accused had gone to his ex-girlfriend's house and used apparatus to scale a wall to enter her house via the balcony. This was not the first time that she had found him inside her house, he said, or threatened her with violence.

The man had previously been charged with slightly injuring the woman and had been released on police bail to receive treatment at Mount Carmel Hospital. However, Osorio had discharged himself soon after and was arrested the next day, explained the inspector.

The man was charged with unlawful entry into a house, which carries with it a maximum three month prison sentence, as well as with harassing the woman, insulting her and causing her to fear that he would be violent towards her, defaming her, entering a house against an express warning by the owner.

He was also charged with breaching bail conditions imposed on May 29, as well as a protection order and a suspended sentence that had been imposed on June 16.

Defence lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail.

Prosecution objected to the man's release, explaining that he had already been arrested on the same charges and had immediately breached his bail conditions. “He was released at 6 and at 7 he was knocking on her door.”

The court denied bail, feeling the accused to be untrustworthy and due to the nature of the charges.