An alleged sex assault in Paceville prompted the victim’s boy-friend to take matters into his own hands and run over two Libyan men with his car, a court heard yesterday.
The incident was sparked off in the early hours of Thursday when Mohamed Alwaer, 20, from Sliema, allegedly assaulted Luciana Dowling, the girlfriend of hotelier Christopher Borg, from St Paul’s Bay.
Mr Borg, 39, then drove at Mr Alwaer with his Jaguar and ran him over, also hitting a third man, an innocent bystander called Ibrahim Salem, the court heard.
Taking to the witness stand, Mr Salem, with his right leg in asupport and limping, said that on the night he was alone in Paceville and was so drunk he fell asleep near a wall.
At one point, Mr Alwaer shook him awake and offered him help to get home.
Mr Salem accepted and soon after they set off, he was hit from behind, lost consciousness and only woke up in hospital the next day.
Mr Borg was charged with the attempted serious injury of Mr Alwaer and Mr Salem, slightly injuring them, driving dangerously and refusing to give his particulars to the police.
Mr Alwaer pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Dowling.
Lawyer Giannella de Marco, appearing for Mr Borg, said her client had a clean police record and objected to the claim by the prosecution that he should be remanded in custody because it was a serious crime.
Magistrate Francesco Depasquale granted him bail against a personal guarantee of €10,000 and a deposit of €1,000.
Lawyer Shazoo Ghaznavi, appearing for Mr Alwaer, said that his client came to Malta to learn English and was also playing football for a Żebbuġ club.
He said that he had a clean police record and a fixed address. The magistrate granted bail against a personal guarantee of €15,000 and €2,000 deposit. The case continues.