A man facing charges for allegedly raping three women kicked up some drama outside the courtroom when he tried to get away, striking out at police officers with his handcuffed hands.  

All was set for the start of the arraignment on Tuesday afternoon when loud shouting and sounds of a scuffle drifted into the courtroom where duty Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was presiding over another arraignment.  

Police officers, lawyers and court staff rushed out into the corridor. The commotion outside soon subsided but the arraignment was delayed for some more minutes until the arrested man had sufficiently calmed down. 

The accused, Gambian national Harona Conateh, was charged with raping three different women at different massage parlours in Sliema and B'kara between June 22 and July 10.

He was also charged with holding victims against their will, committing non-consensual sexual acts and slightly injuring the victims.

Investigators working on the three rape reports had no information about the identity of the alleged rapist.  

Police intensified patrols in the areas of Marsa, Ħamrun and Bkara, gathering information and working on CCTV footage from the areas of the massage parlours where the alleged violence took place.  

A male figure matching the description of the suspect was spotted on Monday evening in Qormi Road, Ħamrun.  

Police approached the man, gave him his legal rights and accompanied him to his home.  

A search yielded items of clothing which matched those of the suspect seen in the footage.  

Those items were exhibited today in evidence.  

One of the victims in one of the Sliema parlours was allegedly tied up with a rope during the attack.  

When the tall, stocky man, in a bright yellow Brazil football jersey and black shorts, was finally escorted into the courtroom, the magistrate authorized the officers not to remove his handcuffs and also to keep their bodycams switched on.  

The hearing got underway but ran into some procedural hiccups when the accused was questioned about his personal details.  

Assisted by two interpreters, Conateh said that he was 20 years old.  

That detail did not match the age on his Gambian passport which stated that he was born in 1992.  

He tried to explain that that age “was a mistake” and that a passport would not be “changed” when the date of birth was wrong.  

Conateh suggested calling his family in Gambia to confirm his true age but refused to disclose his mobile phone password to the police.  

The court, somewhat perplexed, asked whether in all these years he ever had a birthday cake, questioning whether he could recall his birth month.  

“No,” insisted the accused, saying that he never went to school.  

As the issue lingered on, dragging out the hearing, the court finally warned the accused that it could order his mobile phone to be accessed through “brute force.”  

That warning seemed to work. Conateh readily supplied the relative password.  

But the data on his mobile did little to solve the age puzzle. The court ultimately declared that the age on his passport was the official one and that was the only official data available.  

The accused then said that he worked for a construction company.  

The plea stage also took a while to get through.  

Asked whether he understood the reason why he was charged, namely three rape accusations which meant “taking women against their will,” the accused said that he did.  

“But he said that he did not do it,” said his interpreter.  

There was no request for bail at this stage. 

However, just as the hearing was about to be wrapped up, Conateh made some silent contact with his interpreter who, in turn, explained that the accused wanted to go back to Gambia. 

The magistrate calmly explained the judicial process that he would have to face before going back to his homeland.  

“I paid money” but “I want you to forgive me,” he tried to explain, somewhat incoherently.  

His interpreter said that the accused knew why he was in court but he had not done what was being alleged. He wanted the court “to forgive him,” said the interpreter on tape.  

The not-guilty plea was confirmed and the accused was escorted out of the courtroom.  

AG lawyers Angele Vella and Nicholas Degaetano prosecuted together with inspectors Brian Xuereb, Clayton Camilleri and Wayne Buhagiar.  

Lawyer Ilona Schembri was legal aid defence counsel.