Mentally disabled woman 'locked in room building toys' for nine years

A court has heard a harrowing account of how an intellectually disabled woman had allegedly been locked up in a tiny room for nearly a decade, performing unpaid labour.

33-year-old carer Anna Maria Jimenez, of Birzebbugia, appeared before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera this morning, charged with the nine-year illegal arrest of her 39-year old victim.

Jimenez was also charged with attacking and slightly injuring the woman and threatening her and her 28-year-old flatmate.

Inspector Joseph Busuttil told the court how the police had begun investigating after being alerted by an Appogg social worker who was informed of the situation by the woman’s flatmate.

The inspector explained how, after finding her flatmate a job as a cleaner at hospital, the accused had started putting pressure on her to pay more money in rent, eventually demanding her credit card details and PIN number and threatening to make her lose her job if she failed to comply.

The flatmate had told police that Jimenez had destroyed her phone’s SIM card and given her another mobile card, apparently an attempt to isolate from her family and friends, said the inspector.

The court was told how the victim would be locked in a tiny room, which the inspector described as “a room with a bed, not a bedroom” together with two dogs, from 10pm till 3pm the next day. Jimenez would give her Playmobil doll parts to assemble during her time in the room so they could be sold on to the factory.

The woman was forced to use a bucket as a lavatory.

A subsequent search of the premises by police confirmed the story. The victim, who is intellectually impaired, told the police that they had lived together “for about nine years.” She was thankful for the Playmobil parts as it gave her something to do in her hours of solitary confinement, said the inspector.

During their investigation, it was found that the accused had allegedly cashed the victim’s unemployment relief and disability allowance cheques, pocketing the money herself.

Defence lawyer Mario Spiteri rebutted the accusations, entering a plea of not guilty.

He told the court that the accused and the so-called victim had lived in peace for nine years, but that “something happened when [the flatmate] moved in.”

Spiteri hinted at the possibility that the flatmate was jealous of the partner – an unnamed police officer with an impressive number of accusations for violent offences, which the lawyer proceeded to read out in court. Future evidence would be brought to support this claim, said the lawyer.

He requested bail on account of the fact that the accused had released her statement without first consulting with a lawyer, as well as the fact that the accused needed to care for the animals in her flat.

Inspector Busuttil objected to  informed the court that although no criminal proceedings had yet been taken against the woman’s partner, he had passed on his personnel file to the Human Resources d/epartment.

There were also a number of witnesses who were yet to testify, the inspector added.

The denied bail, ruling that the mentally disabled woman was a vulnerable witness. The magistrate, however ordered the prosecution to summon the woman and the accused’s flatmate at the next sitting. After that, bail would be “a possibility,” she said.

A protection order was issued in favour of the victim and the accused’s flatmate for the duration of proceedings.