Two immigrants used false passports to stage escape bid

Two immigrants were yesterday charged with making use of forged passports to try to leave Malta for Spain after they were apprehended at the airport.

Stephen Kyereme, 22, from the Ivory Coast, was jailed for eight months after he admitted to escaping from the Ħal Far detention centre and making use of the fake passport to try and leave the island on Sunday.

Ghanian Maxwell Asiadu, 29, who lives in an open centre, was given a five-month jail term suspended for three years for making use of the counterfeit document to try to leave the island.

Police Inspector Mario Haber, prosecuting, explained that cases of escape had been on the rise and called on the magistrate to send a message through her sentence.

However, defence lawyer Renzo Porsella Flores noted that his clients had not tried to escape to commit a crime. Their action was driven by the feeling that they did not have a future in Malta and they just wanted to leave the island they never planned to come to in the first place.

Magistrate Edwina Grima pointed out that, since the two men had different charges, she could not hand down the same punishment.

She jailed Mr Kyereme for eight months and handed down a suspended jail term for Mr Asiadu who had not been charged with escaping from detention.