A man who was accused of trying to use a forged passport to leave the country only did so because the court had lost his documents, a court heard on Thursday. 

Okhiulu Eshiemokhai Yakubu, a 43-year-old plasterer originally from Nigeria and living in Buġibba, was charged with making use of false documents in front of Magistrate Astrid May Grima. 

While the court was hearing submissions for bail, it emerged that the accused did at one point hold valid documents but they were lost after being deposited with the court while the man faced separate criminal charges a year ago.

Police inspector Karl Roberts said that the man was manifestly a flight risk as he had been caught in the act of trying to abscond.

He also highlighted that the man had no ties to Malta as all of his family resided in Italy.

However, defence lawyer Edmond Cuschieri told the court that the reason the man was trying to get to Italy was because he wanted to get a DNA test to prove that he was the father of his children.

The man was last year found guilty of illegally importing cannabis to Malta 10 years ago.

As a result, he had to deposit his identity documents with the court.

After filing several applications trying to get them back, the man was told that his documents had been lost.

The bail request was denied and the man was remanded into custody.