Migrants jailed for escaping from Malta

A migrant yesterday passionately pleaded with a magistrate to have mercy on him after he admitted to escaping to Switzerland because he was a "victim of frustration".

Collins Osuagwu, 38, said he was guilty of leaving Malta but it was never his intention to break the law, adding that he was very sorry for his actions.

He told Magistrate Audrey Demicoli that "this was a plea; please take my circumstances into consideration, I am a victim of frustration".

Mr Osuagwu said his wife had given birth and he had not even seen his son yet, besides having no contact with her while he was in Malta.

However, Police Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi said the man's circumstances were not exactly what they seemed. When he was in Malta, for example, he did have the facility to contact his wife. And if he really wanted to see his family then he would have made his way back to Nigeria, where his wife was, and not to mainland Europe where he was found by the Swiss authorities.

Mr Osuagwu pleaded guilty to escaping from Safi barracks and from Malta illegally in the preceding months.

In the same arraignment, another man, 27-year-old Tewodaj Alene Gezmu, admitted to leaving the island illegally in the months prior to last Wednesday.

He too was found in Switzerland and brought back to Malta.

He told Magistrate Demicoli he had left the island because, after being released from custody, the government had stopped his allowance, leaving him with no money and unable to survive.

After taking into consideration the different charges and their early admission, Magistrate Demicoli jailed Mr Osuagwu for six months and Mr Gezmu for three.

Legal aid lawyer Martin Fenech appeared for both.