A 19-year-old man who has allegedly been mistreating his adoptive parents over the last few years was yesterday remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to seriously injuring them.

The man, whose name is not being published to protect his parent's identity, was adopted from Romania and has been mistreating them for the past few years, according to the prosecution.

The attacks, which increased in intensity recently, were too much for the couple to handle and they called the police to have him removed from the house.

Sources said the parents had tried to deal with the problems alone but the teenager's physical aggressive attacks, including kneeing his father in the stomach, just proved too much.

Assisted by legal aid lawyer Adrian Camilleri, the teenager pleaded not guilty to holding his parents against their will, extortion, using violence against them, harassing them and seriously injuring them over the last few years.

Magistrate Antonio Mizzi, ordered a ban on the publication of the victims' names.

Lawyer Joseph Giglio appeared for the parents.