Three men and three women have been charged with extorting thousands of euro from a prostitute’s client after threatening to share compromising sexual videos. 

The alleged ordeal surfaced a month ago when the man turned up at the Valletta police station to file a report about the whole affair which started in January 2022.

It began when he went to a prostitute for her services. But instead of the woman, the client found two male strangers who assaulted him and forced him to transfer money to a third party.

That was Chanelle Spiteri and the victim transferred €14,000 to her account. But in May 2024 the threats started afresh and the victim, who is in his 60s, was physically assaulted and threatened that footage of his previous sexual activities would be shared.  

The man gave in to the threats, sending money via Revolut to Christine Schembri and her daughter, Xasnolley Schembri. Money was also paid in cash.  Some €20,700 changed hands. The man's car and watch were also stolen from him.

Siblings Mario and Clyde Mallia, together with Massimo Fasanelli were allegedly behind those threats, the court was told.

The alleged victim finally decided to report what had happened, kickstarting investigations which led to a series of coordinated arrests on Tuesday.

Inspector Stephen Gulia gave a chronological account of those arrests when the six suspects were arraigned on Thursday, on the strike of the 48-hour legal time limit. 

The Schembris were arrested at their Marsa home at 9.35am, followed by Mario Mallia who was arrested at 9.45am at his Għaxaq residence. Fasanelli’s arrest proved somewhat more difficult since he allegedly tried to escape but was caught soon after in Mosta at 10.30am.

When rebutting arguments by Fasanelli’s lawyer that police had not granted the suspect his legal rights during the arrest, Gulia explained that the suspect had been driving the victim’s car.

The vehicle was under police surveillance. Officers waited until the suspect approached the vehicle on Tuesday morning at around 10.20am. But the man appeared to sense police presence. He drove away, fleeing the police. Then he stopped, threw away the car key and fled on foot.  He was caught soon after.

The vehicle could not be driven since the key was missing. A search in a nearby garden proved futile and the car was loaded onto a police tow truck.

Chanelle Spiteri was arrested at 10.40am and Clyde Mallia was arrested at the Corradino Correctional Facility where he was being detained over separate charges. His arrest happened at 11am.

On Thursday all six were charged with money laundering whilst also facing different charges over their various roles in the alleged criminal wrongdoing. All pleaded not guilty.

Three arrests declared illegal

However, a substantial part of the arraignment was taken up by the defence contesting the validity of the arrests. Lawyers Mario and Nicholas Mifsud said that their clients, the Schembris, were to be discharged since the arraignment started when the 48 hours had lapsed and thus the two accused “had been under illegal arrest for half an hour.”

The same applied to the Mallias, argued lawyer Franco Debono, adding that the proceedings were to continue under summons.

Lawyer Herman Mula contested the validity of Fasanelli’s arrest on the ground that the investigating officer had not immediately granted him access to his lawyer. Fasanelli’s partner had first signalled that something was wrong when the man went out to sign the bail book at Zabbar but did not go back home.

She called his lawyer who made various calls to locate Fasanelli. But hours later, he still had no information. The police lock up refused to give the lawyer information, citing data protection.

After finally directing Fasanelli’s partner to go to the police to report him missing, she was told by Zabbar police that her partner had been located. “Don’t worry. He’s ok,” the woman was told.

Nine hours into Fasanelli’s arrest, his lawyer was informed of the arrest. He ultimately spoke to his client on Wednesday.

“The police may have stratagems on investigations but this should not be at the expense of the person’s fundamental human rights,” argued Mula.

Lawyer Franco Debono argued that an individual’s rights could not be dispensed with just because there were several arrests. Moreover, the starting point of the arraignment was when the charges were read out.

AG lawyer Darlene Grima rebutted that the 48-hours were interrupted when the arrested person “was taken to court.” But Debono shot down that interpretation of the law.

“A person may be brought to court and waits for the arraignment which starts three hours later. God forbid if we interpret the law that way," he argued.

After hearing submissions the court, presided over by magistrate Nadia Helena Vella, declared that the arrests of Fasanelli, Chanelle Spiteri and Clyde Mallia were valid. The arrest in respect of the other three co-accused was declared invalid and they were immediately released from custody.

When the hearing continued, all six pleaded not guilty.

Bail was requested for the three accused still under arrest. The request was rejected in respect of Mallia and Fasanelli given their voluminous criminal record and their untrustworthiness.

As for Spiteri, bail was granted against daily signing of the bail book, a deposit of €500, a personal guarantee of €3000, under a curfew between 10pm and 6am and an order not to approach prosecution witnesses. The court also issued a freezing order for €33,000 against all accused and a protection order in favour of the victim.

AG lawyers Darlene Grima and Charmaine Abdilla prosecuted together with Inspectors Stephen Gulia and Andrew Agius Bonello.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit were counsel to the Mallias.

Lawyer Herman Mula was counsel to Fasanelli.

Lawyers Mario and Nicholas Mifsud were counsel to the Schembris.

Lawyer Francesca Zarb was counsel to Spiteri. 

Lawyers Michael Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri appeared as parte civile.