A man slightly injured his partner after she refused to marry him, a court heard yesterday.

Lamin Jameh, 30, a Senegalese man living in St Paul’s Bay, had been in Malta since 2007 and was in a long-term relationship with Polish woman Malgorzata Kufel.

They had a baby together and the man’s defence lawyer, Frank Cassar, said Mr Jameh paid for everything including the rent. The next step was to get married.

But the man was rebuffed and his girlfriend said she was taking their child and going back to Poland.

Police Inspector Edmond Cuschieri, who was prosecuting, said he threatened to harm her if she did not agree to get married.

They had an argument on Tuesday and he slightly injured her, the inspector said.

The lawyer requested bail for his client, claiming the charges, which also include disobeying police, were not serious.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit said she was worried that he had no place to live because the rent agreement on the couple’s apartment was in the alleged victim’s name and she had since moved out..

Mr Jameh managed to contact a friend there and then, giving his assurance that he could be notified for court sittings at his friend’s house and could also be found by the police if the need arose.

He could only offer €140 as a bail deposit so the court accepted that and also imposed a personal guarantee of €20,000. The alleged victim was placed under a protection order.