No bail for man accused of snatching man's neck chain in Paceville

A man accused of tearing silver and gold chains from around the neck of an Italian tourist returning to his hotel after a night in Paceville, has been remanded in custody after denying the charges.

Somali-born Mohamed Abdirisak Ahmed who lives in Sliema, was arraigned this afternoon following the incident which occurred at 3am this morning. The Italian victim testified in court today as he is due to leave the islands shortly.

The Italian man told magistrate Ian Farrugia how he had been accosted by two men as he was walking back to his hotel. One of the men was spoke Italian with a Sicilian accent, he said, the other a dark-skinned man wearing a green shirt and jacket, whom he identified as the man in the dock.

As he was conversing with his compatriot the Somali accused allegedly ripped the victim's two brand new chains, one gold, one silver from around his neck, he said. "The man ran away... He was faster than me, so I went to look for the police. I tried to dial 119 from my phone but it didn’t work. So I called them from my hotel and they told me to go the police station and file a report.”  

The man said he had only just bought the chains from Valletta yesterday morning and had paid €490 for the items in total. 

The witness exhibited a receipt for the stolen necklaces which he had obtained from the shop where he had purchased them. This was exhibited in court. He also exhibited a photograph of the two chains, explaining that he had wanted to put the pictures up on Instagram.

Asked by the court whether he had been drinking and was sure it was the accused, he replied that he was "100% sure."

“I only had three gin and lemonade yesterday. I used to run a bar for ten years so I can hold my alcohol. I wouldn’t want to send a guy to jail for nothing."

Defence counsel Patrick Valentino, cross-examining the witness, asked how it was possible for the man to have had both chains snatched from around his neck without any marks being made.

The man replied that it was because he had been wearing the chain over his shirt. The court ordered the witness to remove his jacket and expose his neck and confirmed that there were no signs of injury.

Valentino entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail, saying it was unjust to keep a man in detention "over €300 worth of jewellery."

The bail request was strongly objected to by Inspector Micallef, who pointed out that the suspect had no fixed residence, no ties in Malta and could therefore easily abscond. He added that the total value of the stolen items was closer to €500.

The court turned down the request for bail and remanded Ahmed in custody.

Inspector Trevor Micallef prosecuted.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino was defence counsel.