Man, 22, accused of recidivism denied bail after second set of charges this year

A man on bail for crimes including sextortion and car theft has been remanded in custody today after being charged with breaching his bail conditions. 

Simon Leyton Rachid, 22, from Valletta appeared in the dock before magistrate Ian Farrugia on Friday morning, charged with breaching three sets of bail conditions and a probation order, as well as with recidivism, due to past convictions.

Rachid had been arraigned in court last February, when he was accused of stealing a BMW and misuse of electronic communications equipment. At that time he was already on bail in connection with separate proceedings in which he stands accused of extorting monthly payments from a man with whom he had frequent sexual encounters, starting in 2018, when he was 17 years old.

Defence lawyer David Gatt did not contest the validity of the arrest, but asked to exhibit a number of medical certificates to prove the defendant was suffering from a chest infection, telling the court that Rachid had spent the past ten days sick at home.

The defendant began coughing violently in the dock.

Inspector Zammit, who is prosecuting together with Inspector Stephen Gulia, told the court that Rachid had failed to sign his various bail books for the past two weeks. He took the witness stand to testify about the defendant’s repeated breaches of the three sets of bail conditions imposed on him. 

“We warned Simon several times that he wasn’t obeying his bail conditions,” said the inspector from the witness stand, telling the court that in terms of his various bail decrees, he was bound to report to police stations at Hamrun and Valletta every day. There were times when he signed one bail book but not the other, the court was told, so the police had advised Rachid to file an application in court asking to have both his second bail book transferred to Valletta.

“Instead, he stopped signing them, for around two weeks,” Zammit said.

Officers had gone to the address specified in his bail conditions on more than one occasion, but the door was never answered. On Saturday 13 May, Inspector Zammit had accompanied officers on a visit to Rachid’s address, he said. Their knocks on the door went unanswered.

The decision to arrest Rachid was made on July 4, and the arresting officers did not find him at his home in Valletta. The defendant had subsequently called the inspector to say that he was in hospital, being treated for a chest infection. But when the inspector asked him to specify the ward he was in, Rachid had hung up.

Inspector Zammit had then spoken to the defendant’s sister, telling her that he “would not tolerate these games” and the woman volunteered to bring Rachid to the police station herself.

Rachid had later handed the police a medical certificate dated June 15, said the inspector, adding that the doctor’s signature was indecipherable and that the certificate was stamped with two different medical numbers.

When questioned, Rachid had claimed that he was not signing his bail books because of a chest infection, telling the police that he had visited a doctor in Valletta but that he didn’t know his name. At the time of arrest the defendant had told the inspector that he had at least four medical certificates.  

The doctor in question was also spoken to, and had told the police that he did not work in Valletta, but in Qormi. 

His probation officer had reported that Rachid had cut off all contact with her since May, concluded the inspector.

Rashid pleaded not guilty. 

Gatt requested bail for his client, which was objected to by the prosecution, who described the man as “clearly not trustworthy,” in the light of his repeated breaches of bail and related convictions.

The defendant appeared to have another coughing fit while his lawyer argued for his release from custody. The coughing, however, ceased when the court denied his bail request