Man admits to participating in gang rape of Italian woman to avoid jury trial

Liban Hussein Mohamud, a 32-year-old Somali national, has been jailed for eight and a half years after he pleaded guilty to the abduction and gang rape of an Italian woman six years ago

Liban Hussein Mohamud, a 32-year-old Somali national, has been jailed for eight and a half years after he pleaded guilty to the abduction and gang rape of an Italian woman six years ago.

The incident had taken place in March 2013, when the 21-year-old Italian woman had been walking towards Valletta. At one point a car, with four men inside it, had pulled up. The men grabbed her off the street and pushed her into the car. The victim had tried to call her brother for help, but the men had taken her mobile phone.

As the car neared Paola, the woman had tried to open the car door and escape but was held back by the men. One of them grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her, saying “Italiano tu sei morto” (“Italian you are dead”).

They had arrived at Hal Far where the men had stripped her naked and raped her twice each.

After the assault, the men had given the woman her clothes back and left the area and she had sought assistance from the Playmobil factory.

Mohamud had chosen to admit to the charges of rape, abduction, use of violence, theft and driving without a licence in order to avoid a trial by jury.

Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera jailed the man for eight and a half years and ordered him to pay €4,839 in costs. He was also disqualified from driving for a year.