Lost in translation: Misunderstanding bail conditions lands man in prison

An alleged misunderstanding of a court decree has proved a costly error for a homeless Ethiopian man who was jailed and ordered to pay €10,000 for breaching his bail conditions.

Omar Ismail Abdimalik, 24, was arraigned before magistrate Charmaine Galea by Inspector Matthew Spagnol this afternoon, after he broke every bail condition he had been given. The man had been released on bail following a previous arraignment for causing damage in St. Julian’s and required to sign a bail book in Hamrun. Under his bail conditions he was also expressly prohibited from going to the St. Julian’s area.

But having clearly misunderstood, he not only had not signed the Hamrun bail book once, but had gone to try and sign a bail book at the St. Julian’s police station. His case was not helped by the fact that police had found him living in a derelict garage in St. Julian’s. 

Inspector Spagnol told the court that the man had proven difficult to trace. “We can give him some leeway about not signing at Hamrun, but it took us two weeks to trace him.”

The court found the man guilty and sentenced him to four months in prison, confiscated his €10,000 bail guarantee and revoked his bail.

The accused’s lawyer, Josette Sultana, gave leave of appeal.