A 32-year-old Ghanaian desperate to return to his home country smashed his rental apartment's furniture in frustration at bureaucratic red tape, a court heard today. 

Frederick Ofosu was arraigned before Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras this afternoon and charged with damaging another person’s property, using insulting language, threatening police and disobeying police orders.

Prosecuting officer Nicholas Vella told the court how the police were called after noises were heard emanating from an apartment in Buġibba. The accused refused to open the door and the owner was called on site to produce the key.

The door was however still blocked, prompting the police to enter the apartment by breaking a side window.

They found the accused in a highly agitated state. He told police that although he wished to return to Ghana, he was finding no cooperation from the authorities.

Insp. Vella told the court that damages to the furniture were roughly estimated at €1,955. He explained that the police could not return him to his home county because he possessed no immigration documents. The Maltese authorities were trying to arrange for him to obtain his documents from Ghana, but were still waiting to hear from the Ghanaian consulate.

Lawyer Josette Sultana told the court that her client had limited means.

“He suffers from a lot of anxiety because he's trapped on the island for bureaucratic reasons.”

Insp. Vella added that the accused had not paid his rent since April but was allowed to continue living in the apartment because he had always been punctual with his payments before.

The accused initially submitted a guilty plea. Asked by the court whether he knew with what he was being charged, the accused replied: “Yes, I caused damage and they brought me here”.
However, when he was informed that he was also charged with insulting the police, the accused declined having behaved in such a matter, insisting that he had “not done anything to the police”.

The plea was therefore modified to not guilty. The request for bail was turned down by the court since he had no fixed address. However, the court recommended that he be kept at Mount Carmel Hospital to receive the necessary treatment to help his anxiety.