Three men charged with Sliema jogger assault denied bail

Updated at 3:27pm with court proceedings

Three people have been arraigned in court this afternoon, in connection with an assault on a jogger in Sliema on Thursday morning.

The court was informed that two of the accused did not speak Maltese or English, but only Albanian. Interpreters were appointed by the court.

The first accused, Matthew Joseph Schembri, 37, from Sliema, told the court that he is the director of a company. Another Sliema resident, unemployed Xhovano Ndoci Doji, 23, from Albania was next, followed by  Agostin Marku, 23, also from Albania and residing in Sliema, who also told the court that he was unemployed. 

All three of the men pleaded not guilty to charges relating to complicity in attempted grievous bodily harm and attempted grievous bodily harm, actual slight bodily harm. Ndoci alone was additionally charged with carrying a sharp and pointed object in public without a police permit.

Lawyer David Gatt requested bail for Schembri. Lawyer Dean Hili, assisting the other two accused, informed the court that his clients were also requesting bail, but were in Malta only to work and had insufficient funds. They worked for Schembri and resided in a property owned by him, by dint of their employment.

In his bail submissions, Gatt, highlighted that Schembri owned the property in which the other two resided and for which they never paid rent.

The victim, a 62-year-old man, is the father of his ex-wife, from whom he had separated several years ago.

Gatt told the court that there was no evidence that he had ordered or paid them to carry out this attack. Schembri had a clean criminal record, he said, adding that the other two men would now be kicked out of the flat he had provided them with.

The attack was random, said the lawyer, adding that he hadn’t yet seen the statements which they had given to the police. Technically they cannot testify in the compilation of evidence because they are co-accused, said the lawyer. “Should this man’s family business be allowed to deteriorate into ruins… whilst sitting in a cell, waiting for the accused to do what is right.”

Lawyer Dean Hili said that his clients had effectively told the police the same thing: that they acted as “hitmen.” The real problem which led to them being in this situation is the pitiful conditions under which they were made to work by the other accused. He hadn’t paid them in months and the men ended up as his “slaves” doing his bidding in the hope of being given something to eat.

He implored the court to consider the circumstances and see who really stood to gain from the attack they carried out on a person whom they didn’t even know.

Inspector Lydon Zammit told the court that he was objecting to bail for all three of the accused at this stage. “The case itself is very serious, for two reasons: the public outcry that this incident caused… and the fact that an elderly man was targeted,” adding that several individuals and organisations had contacted the police saying they were afraid of going to the Sliema promenade as a result of the assault. “Luckily, the injuries are slight. But the charges show that things could have easily taken a serious turn for the worse.”

There were several eyewitnesses and witnesses indicated by Schembri himself, who were yet to testify, added the police inspector. With regards to the Albanian men, there was the twofold problem that they had nowhere to live and nowhere to stay, apart from the fact that they had no ties to Malta.

Schembri had been the person who had maliciously orchestrated this attack on his elderly ex-father-in law, said the police inspector as part of his objections to bail.

After briefly retiring to chambers to consider the bail requests, Magistrate Charmaine Galea refused the requests, in view of the seriousness of the charges, as well as the risk of witnesses being suborned. This in addition to the lack of ties to the island demonstrated by two of the accused.

A protection order was issued in favour of the victim.

Matthew Joseph Schembri was assisted by David Gatt, with Xhovano Ndoci Doji and Agustine Marku being assisted by lawyer Dean Hili.

Lawyer Matthew Xuereb appeared parte civile for the injured party, who the court was told is 62 years old. He asked the court to impose a protection order with immediate effect.

Inspector Lydon Zammit prosecuted.

District MP asks for Police Commissioner meeting

Earlier in a statement, the police said that the assault happened at 7:15am on Thursday on the Qui-Si-Sana promenade in Sliema. The attack caused public outrage at the audacity of the two aggressors and even prompted Nationalist Party district MP Graham Bencini to ask for a meeting with the Police Commissioner.

“In view of the violent rape and murder of a woman in January 2022, the attack on the Mayor of Sliema last week and the attack on an elderly man yesterday morning in Qui-Si- Sana, which all happened in prominent public places and which are all leading to the residents of these localities to feel insecure, I have today delivered a letter to the Commissioner of Police asking him for an urgent meeting to address this situation,” Bencini said.

One of the aggressors was held down by citizens who witnessed the assault and gave chase. He was arrested when police arrived on the scene.

Investigations by the Major Crimes Unit and district police later led to the arrest of the second aggressor and on Thursday night the alleged mastermind was also arrested.