A Syrian man who admitted to sexually assaulting a woman early on New Year's Day was today jailed for 11 months and then taken to another courtroom charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old on Christmas Day. 

Last Saturday, Najm Fahd, 20, from Marsa, admitted to sexually assaulting a Maltese woman as she was walking home in Swieqi early on New Year’s Day.

The incident happened in Triq L-Ispiera at around 4am as the woman was returning home from a New Year’s Eve party.

The man grabbed her by the mouth and tried to place his hands up her skirt. He only stopped when neighbours were alerted to what was going on because of the woman’s screams.

Police arrived on site within minutes but he had already escaped, only to be apprehended further down the road.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech said the fact that he filed an early guilty plea and his clean criminal record did not mitigate the "nonsensical, cowardly and savage" attack on the woman.

She jailed him for 11 months and ordered him to pay €22 for the handcuffs he broke while under police custody. 

Soon after he was sentenced, Mr Fahd was taken before Magistrate Doreen Clarke where he was charged with committing a similar crime on a 16-year-old girl as she was walking home in Triq San Gorg Preca in Pembroke at around 2am on Christmas Day. 

Although the crime was reported to the police, the victim did not know the man's identity but then alerted the police after watching footage on the media of the man leaving court on Saturday. 

Police Inspectors Joseph Busuttil and Matthew Spagnol told Magistrate Clarke that the man allegedly followed the girl home before assaulting her. He allegedly groped and kissed her and touched her intimate parts. 

Mr Fahd denied sexually assaulting his victim, illegally arresting her and being drunk in public. 

Defence counsel Mark Mifsud Cutajar requested bail, adding that his client had filed an appeal on the jail term imposed just a few minutes before. But the police inspectors objected, saying there was a vulnerable witness who still had to testify in the proceedings. Moreover, they said, the man knew where she lived and there was a risk that he would tamper with evidence. 

Magistrate Clarke turned down the request and he was remanded in custody. 

Both magistrates ordered a ban on the publication of the man's victims' names.