A 61-year-old repeat offender was condemned to three months in jail and ordered never to set foot in Sliema throughout the next three years after a court found him guilty of offending public morals.

Paul Lughermo from Valletta had allegedly, on several occasions last year, made it a habit of following a particular woman on her regular strolls along the Tigne seafront, the court was told.

According to the testimony of the victim and her children, who had also witnessed the harassment, the accused would constantly follow the woman, stopping quite close to her whenever she stopped and fixing his gaze upon her.

The court, presided by magistrate Aaron Bugeja, observed that this behaviour evidently upset the victim who no longer felt safe whenever she walked along that particular stretch of promenade.

Such behaviour clearly amounted to stalking, an offence that is specifically regulated under Maltese law. However, the man had been charged with the generic offence of harassment rather than with the specific offence of stalking, the court observed.

For this reason, the accused was found guilty of having offended public morals by seeking sexual gratification in public, but was acquitted of the charge of harassment.

The court remarked that the accused was a repeat offender who had on several occasions been convicted of similar offences against public morals and decency.

"The accused must understand that he cannot masturbate in public," the court declared. It was noted that "similar episodes spread over a long number of years signify that there are personality aspects that must be dealt with in a professional manner by qualified psychologists and psychiatrists."

The court recommended the director of prison to provide the necessary medical treatment so that the accused might solve his personality problems.