Arrest of man who groped woman’s breast deemed invalid by court

Court orders registrar to assign case accordingly, and the man will not be charged under arrest

File photo
File photo

The court ordered the release of a drunken man who allegedly groped a woman who was walking past a Hamrun bar after his arrest was deemed invalid.

Beyene Fessahatsion Weldeabzghi, a 31-year-old Eritrean national living in a homeless shelter allegedly touched the woman’s breast at around 11:30 am on Saturday as she was walking outside a bar in Qormi Road.

The woman, accompanied by her father, reported the case at the local police station.

The suspect, still at the bar where the incident took place, was identified and taken into police custody.

He was charged with offending public morals or decency by indecently touching the victim in a public place, refusing to obey legitimate police orders and being found drunk in public. He was also charged with carrying out the offence while serving a suspended sentence handed to him last August.

The accused’s lawyers, Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb, argued that the charges were contraventional in nature and the first charge was punishable with a fine or a maximum three-month jail term. The lawyers argued that in light of these charges, it did not justify the accused being charged under arrest.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed the prosecution did not present sufficient information to confirm the man’s identity, with not even a copy of his ID card presented in court.

The court declared the arrest invalid, and ordered the man’s immediate release.

Ordering a ban on the victim’s name, the court sent the records to the Court Registrar for the case to be assigned accordingly. Proceedings will continue in the continue in the coming weeks.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb were defence counsel.