An indecent proposal
Accused had stopped signing bail book, was living at Sliema hotel
A woman allegedly encouraged a married man to have sex with her so she and her partner in crime could then blackmail him, a magistrate heard yesterday.
The incident allegedly occurred at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq on January 7 at 10.20 p.m.
The court heard that the woman, Carmela Camilleri, 38, of Gżira, allegedly teamed up with a man, named by the police as Patrick Mangion, who has still to be arraigned, to extort money from a man by threatening to tell his wife he cheated on her.
According to the plan, Ms Camilleri and the victim were surprised in bed by the woman's alleged accomplice and the two demanded cash if the victim did not want his wife to know what had happened.
Police Inspector Chris Pullicino told Magistrate Lawrence Quintano the victim was so scared that he actually paid out some money. But when the price tag changed, climbing to over €18,000, he decided to go to the police. The original sum demanded was not mentioned in court.
Ms Camilleri was also charged with breaching the conditions of a previous release, including an order that she had to be at home by not later than 9 p.m.
She was also charged with threatening the man with violence.
Inspector Pullicino said the police had been searching for Ms Camilleri because she had stopped signing the bail book at the Qawra police station. Investigations later revealed she was living at a Sliema hotel, where she was eventually apprehended for questioning on this case.
Ms Camilleri's defence lawyer, Edward Gatt, told the court his client herself had been tricked by Mr Mangion, who, he added, was well known to the police. Magistrate Quintano turned down a request for bail and the woman was remanded in custody.
Two sisters and the 17-year-old daughter of one of them were last December charged with blackmailing a greengrocer when they allegedly photographed him naked after one of them lured him to her bedroom with the promise of sex.
So far, the court has heard how the greengrocer had suggested sex to settle the debt one of the two sisters had accumulated at his business.