Ta’ Xbiex couple deny assaulting man after alleged groping incident

A Dutch couple living in Ta’ Xbiex have denied assaulting a man following an alleged groping incident in a street in the seaside town.

Jerome Jaoad Yousfi, 37-, and 30-year-old Jasmine Gerardina Jalila Louati, both residents of Ta’ Xbiex were arraigned under arrest before magistrate Elaine Rizzo on Tuesday. Yousfi alone was accused of slightly injuring a man on August 3 and damaging his car.

Louati alone, was charged with the aggravated theft of the man’s mobile phone.

Both defendants were accused of causing the man to fear that he would be subjected to violence, as well as breaching the peace, assault, insulting and threatening the victim, who Jerome was also accused of pushing.

Police inspector Michael Vella, prosecuting together with lawyer Brendan Hewer from the Attorney General’s Office explained how, at 8pm on 3 August, officers had been dispatched to bystanders’ reports of an argument involving 3 individuals.

Officers found the three individuals at the scene, and noted a vehicle with damage to its windscreen and side windows. All three were initially detained, but after examining mobile phone footage, the police subsequently arrested the defendants.

Yousfi told the court that was a business owner, while Louati described herself as a homemaker.

Prosecutor Brendan Hewer, from the Office of the Attorney General, said that although the couple did reside in Malta, the prosecution had been unable to establish what the man’s business was.

The lawyer representing the alleged victim, Charles Mercieca, described the attack as unprovoked and said that there was a substantial risk of further incidents or attempts to intimidate his client before he testified.

“My client was doing his job. The police had to use force to restrain these two individuals. Had it not been for my client’s cool head, the court would not have been seeing only slight injury charges,” said Mercieca, calling for the court to restrict the defendants’ movements and impose an “onerous deposit which reflects the seriousness of the crime.”

One of the defendants’ lawyers, Wilfrid Buttigieg, underlined that his clients’ trustworthiness was demonstrated by the absence of any prior run-ins with the law. They were in Malta for the long haul, he said, telling the court that Yousfi was a representative of the Belgian government, whom he was assisting in a commercial matter concerning contracts with a Dutch company, dealing in the health sector.

The alleged victim had already released a statement to the police and so his account was already preserved as evidence, added the lawyer.

Lawyer Ingrid Zammit Young, who also assisted the defendants, argued that the incident had come about due to provocation and that the defendants were considering filing a criminal complaint, themselves.

It is understood that the beating was provoked by a groping incident involving the alleged victim.

After hearing the parties’ submissions, the court released both defendants on bail, ordering them to each deposit €3,000 and provide a personal guarantee of €5,000, also requiring them to sign a bail book daily.