Woman charged with human trafficking scuffles with police outside courtroom

A woman denied bail on human trafficking charges this afternoon physically resisted being taken back to prison and scuffled with police officers outside a courtroom.

Amira Khadraoui, 27, from Gozo, was the fourth person to be charged in connection with a police investigation into a criminal group who trafficked South American women for sex work. She was arrested after police tracked her down to her hiding place, the court was told.

The woman appeared in the dock before magistrate Lara Lanfranco on Thursday afternoon, charged with offences relating to human trafficking by Inspector Joseph Busuttil. 

As the sitting began, the woman’s legal aid lawyer Josette Sultana requested the court impose a ban on the publication of the accused’s name, in order to protect her employment and family. She had recently started work as a dishwasher at a restaurant; the court was told, “If I lose my job, I lose everything,” chimed in the accused. 

Inspector Busuttil explained that she is the fourth person to be arraigned in connection with this case, adding that there was no legal basis to ban the publication of her name.

After considering the matter, the magistrate ruled that the reasons given were not sufficient to uphold the defence’s request for a publication ban.

Khadraoui pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The defence requested bail.

Prosecutor Darlene Grima from the Office of the Attorney General objected to her release, informing the magistrate that there were victims of human trafficking involved who are expected to testify in the case against the other three men in the coming days. The address provided by the woman turned out to be a garage which is not inhabitable, Grima added.

Inspector Busuttil added that she was accused of a scheduled crime in respect of which the court was obliged not to grant bail.

Magistrate Lanfranco turned down the woman’s request for bail, citing her lack of a fixed address, the serious nature of the crimes with which the woman is charged, and noting that the charges included human trafficking, “which is a scheduled offence, and an international one.” The court added that bail was also not being granted in view of the fact that the proceedings had only just begun and the alleged victims, in this case, had not yet testified,

The court ordered a ban on the publication of the names of the victims under the Victims of Crime Act.

Outside the courtroom, after the sitting was over, the woman could be heard struggling and resisting the police, shouting and swearing and directing coarse insults at the inspector, whom the magistrate had asked to go see what was going on.

Inspector Joseph Busuttil prosecuted, assisted by lawyers Darlene Grima and Ramon Bonnett Sladden from the Office of the Attorney General. Lawyer Josette Sultana was defence counsel.