Syrian gang accused of harassing, attacking, passers-by in Bugibba

Four men have been accused of being part of a group that harassed and assaulted pedestrians in Bugibba during the summer.

Al Khadur Fadi, 26,  Najar Ghyas, 20, Al Maaloul Abdulkhader, 19 and Alghazi Abdallah, 19, all born in Syria and residing at St Paul's Bay, were identified following a police investigation and appeared before magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.

Inspector Maurice Curmi told the court how, on the 3rd of July at around 10.30pm, a group of around 10 foreign men, who are believed to be Syrians, had been harassing a female customer at a restaurant in  Bugibba Square and trying to remove her chair.

Seeing this, a passing man had told the gang to stop, only for  the group to turn on him and attack. The man was grievously injured by a glass in the resulting altercation.

The Qawra police station had received multiple reports from Bugibba square that night, all allegedly concerning the four men.

A diner said that he had been having a coffee with his wife when the group began to annoy those in their vicinity by playing with a ball. He, too, had been slightly injured after being attacked by the group for telling the men to move away.

A pregnant customer at one of the outlets on the square had reported one Syrian man as having crawled under their table. More of his fellow nationals had turned up when her husband told him to leave, but luckily for the couple, on that occasion the group dispersed due to the arrival of a Libyan gang.

A sergeant from the Qawra police station explained how investigators had used information given by the victims and other witnesses to identify three of the men, who happened to live near the police station. The fourth man was identified some time later after one of the victims found a photo of him on Facebook and flagged it to the police.

The men pleaded not guilty. Although the men were not under arrest, the court imposed a €2,000 personal guarantee upon each of them, warning them that they would forfeit the sum if they failed to appear in court when summoned. The men were also ordered to sign the bail book at the Qawra police station every Saturday.