A magistrate yesterday heard how a businessman locked up a woman in a Sliema apartment for five days, raped her several times and even forced her to wash him in the shower.
Police inspector Joseph Busuttil told Magistrate Antonio Vella how the woman, a Tunisian with an Italian passport, claimed that Tunisian Mohammed El Herzi , 55, a businessman who owns a textile company and who regularly visited Malta for the past 18 years, raped her after she refused his marriage proposal.
He said the woman claimed Mr El Herzi had promised her a job, had paid the air fares for her trip to Malta and had picked her up from the airport.
Mr El Herzi stands charged with trafficking the Tunisian woman, holding her against her will, raping her and with violently forcing himself on her. He is denying the charges.
As the compilation of evidence against the Tunisian began yesterday, Inspector Busuttil explained that on September 3 last year, the woman told police that the two had met in Palermo waiting for a boat to Tunis and he had offered her a job as a hairdresser in Malta.
She had asked him in which salon she would be working, but Mr El Herzi instead asked her to marry him. She had refused, saying she barely knew him and had only come to Malta because he had offered her a job.
The inspector said the woman alleged that, after refusing his marriage proposal, he locked her up in a Sliema apartment that Mr El Herzi shared with a female flatmate and had raped her several times a day. On one occasion he had even forced her to wash him in the shower.
Without going into detail on how she had managed to escape, the inspector said she had turned up at the police station and filed the report.
When the police began investigating, they discovered that Mr El Herzi and his teenage son had fled Malta as soon as they realised the woman had escaped and were already in Milan.
Mr El Herzi and his teenage son had fled Malta as soon as they realised the woman had escaped
A European Arrest Warrant was issued but this was never used as the defendant came back to Malta on his own accord. He was questioned regarding his possible involvement in pick pocketing and when his details were inputted into the police system, an alert popped up and he was arrested.
While he was under arrest, Mr El Herzi faked chest pains and was taken to Mater Dei Hospital only to sign his release within the hour. He resorted to the stunt another few time and was always released when nothing wrong was found.
His flatmate told the police she had noticed that the woman would always be accompanied by the accused or his son. She heard an argument when the alleged victim said she wanted to get a ticket back home and had been told by Mr El Herzi that he would help her sell her body to fund her flight home.
At the end of the sitting, defence lawyers Leon Bencini and Joseph Mizzi requested bail but the magistrate turned it down as Mr El Herzi failed to offer the necessary guarantees. He was remanded in custody.
The case continues in September.