A Nigerian refugee who fled from the violence in Libya was yesterday jailed for three months after he tried to leave the island using counterfeit travel documents.

Kenneth Obeze, 31, had been working in Libya for the past seven years as a diving welder with an oil company when the uprising flared in February. When the oil company suspended operations he had no choice but to leave and was evacuated, making his way to Malta aboard a British plane. He left everything behind, Police Inspector Joseph Hersey told the court yesterday.

Mr Obeze tried to leave Malta on Tuesday, headed for mainland Europe, using a fake Spanish residency card and a fake Nigerian passport but was stopped by immigration officers, the court heard.

Both the prosecuting officer and legal aid lawyer Anthony Mifsud Cutajar agreed that the minimum punishment allowed by law should be meted out in this case considering the circumstances.

Magistrate Anthony Vella told Mr Obeze his hands were tied when it came to a prison term and said he would be sentencing him to the minimum allowed by law, that is three months.

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