Bus driver charged with rape, blackmail of former partner
Court hears he allegedly threatened to share intimate video with victim's family and employer
A 31-year-old man has been remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to raping and blackmailing his former partner.
Mahin Eerackal Ebrahim, who lives in Mosta and works as a bus driver, was charged with committing non-consensual sexual acts on the woman, with whom he had been in a relationship for two years before they broke up. She remained friends with him but entered into another relationship in the meantime.
The woman alleged that on June 18, the accused went to her residence, crying and screaming that he wanted her back. He told her that he just wanted to speak to her and did not want sex. However, he then began threatening her before forcing himself upon her.
According to the prosecution, the accused also claimed to have footage of the woman and her current partner having sex taken with a hidden camera, which he threatened to show to her family members back in India, her friends and her employer.
The woman reported the man to the Domestic Violence Unit on Tuesday. Police arrested him the following day.
The defence requested bail. The prosecution objected, arguing that there was a risk that the man tampered with the evidence and spoke to key witnesses, and that he was a flight risk. The accused also knew where the woman lived and worked. While his devices had been seized, the aforementioned video had not yet been extracted.
The defence argued that the man had a fixed address and job, had handed in his passport and offered a guarantee that he would not approach the woman.
Magistrate Leonard Caruana agreed with the prosecution and refused bail. The man was remanded in custody.
Attorney General lawyers Jennifer Polidano and Mariyah Borg prosecuted, together with Inspector Sherona Buhagiar. Ebrahim was represented by a legal aid lawyer.