Man charged with exposing himself to two girls at a supermarket

A 57-year-old man was remanded in custody after the court heard how he exposed his penis to two girls inside a supermarket in Qormi.

Stevan Karanovic, a Serb residing in Rabat, was accused of having defiled the children on Saturday. He was also charged with being in possession of child pornography.

Police raided Karanovic’s apartment, where they found child porn photos and videos, some involving babies.

On Saturday, while the two girls were next to the cheese counter, the man lifted his shorts and exposed himself to them. He allegedly had been following the girls around at the supermarket, flashing himself each time they looked.

The girls’ parents alerted the supermarket management and the man was held down until police arrived.

Prosecuting Inspector Roxanne Tabone told the court that the man had told police he could not explain why he had exposed himself in front of the children and not their parents.

Karanovic, who has been in Malta for three years, is understood to have admitted to other incidents.

The Serb claimed that he had been a porn-star back at home, something corroborated by the discovery of videos by the police.

A request for bail was turned down after Inspector Shaun Ferriggi, also prosecuting, explained that the man had no fixed ties in Malta and had changed address several times. Moreover, the risk of absconding was a real one especially since a ticket to Croatia had been discovered in the man’s possession.

In view of this possibility of absconding, the court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, turned down the request for bail and also pronounced a ‘prima facie’ decree before adjourning the case to September.

The court further ordered a ban on publication of the names of the minors.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace was legal aid counsel.