Homeless man charged over string of attacks on Ukrainian women

A homeless man has been remanded in custody after being accused of committing a string of attacks on Ukrainian women in Malta, apparently connected to the Russian invasion.

In the briefest of arraignments, Inspectors Elisia Scicluna and Shamus Woods presented 42-year-old Serhii Zubrik, who has no fixed address in Malta and whose country of birth is specified as Ukraine, under arrest before magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit on Friday morning.

Zubrik, who the court was told has a problem with alcoholism, was charged with having urinated in Republic Street, Valletta and breached the peace on January 28. The police say that he had been carrying a knife on his person at the time.

He was charged with assaulting and threatening four women on February 16 at the JobsPlus offices in Floriana, assaulting and threatening another woman on February 18 in Hamrun, assaulting and threatening six more women in Sliema on February 23 and being drunk and disorderly at the Floriana bus terminus later that day. He was arrested yesterday after committing a fourth alleged assault, this time targeting two women at the Floriana granaries.

The man had also been drunk at the time of his arrest, officers said.

All of the women allegedly attacked are understood to be from Ukraine. Sources indicate that the incidents appeared to be somehow related to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but no details about the motive emerged in court.

Zubrik pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody after the defence did not request bail.

Lawyer Daniel Attard represented the defendant as legal aid.