The Attorney General has appealed the four-month suspended jail term given to the man who had part of his tongue bitten off by a Nepalese woman after he sexually assaulted her.

Attorney General Peter Grech confirmed that the appeal was filed by his office, in the case of Crispin Grima, on the ground that the punishment was too lenient. Mr Grima, 35, was given the suspended jail term after admitting to the violent in­decent assault of the 27-year-old woman.

See interview with the woman at http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130616/local/Woman-who-bit-off-tongue-is-living-in-fear.474014

After the punishment was handed down the National Council of Women said the sentence did not reflect the seriousness of the crime of sexual assault.

At the moment there is no specific system in place to ensure that victims are kept informed

The victim herself – Ms Shrestha (who preferred not to see her first name published) – agreed.

In an interview published last week she told The Sunday Times of Malta that she felt it was not fair that her aggressor got away with a suspended jail term after making her feel “doomed”.

Until then the marketing student, who has been living in Malta for four years, was under the impression that her assailant had been effectively jailed.

Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre said that not enough was being done to ensure that victims of crime are kept informed about the outcome of their case.

“At the moment there is no specific system in place to ensure that victims are kept informed. Some police officers try to do so, but they find it difficult to keep up with the workload,” she said.

Dr Lepre was, however, hopeful that this would be addressed after talks were recently held with the Home Affairs Ministry that said it planned to better support victims.

She added that this situation would have to be addressed by the end of next year when Malta must enact the Victims Rights Directive that includes the setting up of structures to ensure victims are kept informed about their case.

In last week’s interview Ms Shrestha recounted how she was on her way to her Msida flat after a 12-hour shift at work in a restaurant when she was attacked on June 1 at 3.15am.

She had to pass through Testaferrata Street, a notorious red light zone, to get home.

While she was walking she sensed someone following her and a man called out to her “sabiħa, sabiħa”.

She confronted the man and told him to leave her alone. He insisted on following her. She pushed him away and he threw her to the ground, jumped onto her and started kissing her.

“I don’t know what happened then. He was really strong. I don’t know at what point I bit his tongue. I didn’t let go. I don’t know why I did it. He got very angry and started to squeeze my neck very hard,” she said adding that a prostitute in the area then ran to her rescue and her assailant ran away.

She only realised she bit off part of his tongue when she felt the flesh resting on her right cheek and realised she was covered in his blood.

The police arrived and she told them what happened. Mr Grima was arraigned after it resulted that he had gone to a health centre to tend to his injury.

Ms Shrestha said that after the event she suffered “psychological pain” and could not sleep for a week. She is still scared her aggressor might “want revenge”.

 

 

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