Trial continues for man who threatened to kill woman in Ħamrun

A court heard on Thursday how a man threatened to kill a woman in Ħamrun in a 2024 incident.  

Ismail Shuib Mohamud, 23, was charged with harassing and threatening to kill a woman in an incident that took place on December 14 2024 on Triq il-Kbira San Ġużepp in Ħamrun.

On Thursday, both the prosecution and the defence presented their arguments.

Prosecutor Elisa Scicluna delivered the victim’s testimony, confirming she believes that it was consistent and reliable.  

She explained how the victim was on her way to work at around 5am when she heard a man calling out to her. He allegedly told her that she has €20 million on her, and when she replied in the negative, he replied saying, “I know you’re lying, I am going to kill you”.

It was explained the victim asked for assistance from bystanders to help stop Shuib from following her. People intervened trying to stop Shuib, causing him to punch a third-person who tried to help. He then ran away.

In the police’s testimony it was also reported the accused would always run away whenever he saw the police nearby.

When the victim finally managed to get away from Shuib by going into a pizzeria close by, she reportedly broke down into tears in fear, and called herself a taxi to work as she no longer felt safe using public transport.

The prosecution presented a video showing the victim walking on the main road. Although the video had no sound, it shows Shuib following her. The accused confirmed it was him in the video, but he denied.

The defence then argued their side of the case claiming the prosecution's argument was based solely on the victim's testimony and no concrete evidence.

The only physical evidence the prosecution had was the CCTV footage, where all that is shown is the Shuib approaching the victim, there is no proof of the alleged threats or any violence.

Defence also argued that several facts of the case were omitted such as how one of the bystanders threw a coffee in the accused’s face.

They also claimed that there were several inconsistencies throughout the victim’s testimonies. One time she told the court that the accused had punched a third party, and in another hearing, she said that he only tried to punch a third party.

In her testimony, the victim also described the route she had taken when she was allegedly threatened and harassed.

The defence pointed out that all the roads she mentioned have CCTV cameras, yet none of the footage from any of these cameras were presented as evidence. It was argued those cameras would have definitely picked up more footage of the accused, if he had truly been harassing the victim and third parties.

Furthermore, the victim stated the accused did not seem to be drunk at the time of the incident. The victim was said to be carrying around a small purse with her that day, which was very clearly not large enough to fit €20 million in cash.

The defence argued the accused, being of sound mind, would have known this bag was too small and would have not assumed she was carrying around €20 million.

Therefore, there is no proof of the threats being made nor any indication as to why Shuib would have come to the conclusion that she was in fact carrying around such a large sum of money.

Ismail Shuib Muhamud’s sentencing will be heard on 13 April at 9am.

This case was presided over by Magistrate Astrid May Grima.

Prosecution was led by Elisa Scicluna.