A man was remanded in custody after he pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting two young girls in two daylight incidents at Floriana on Monday. 

Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed, 31, was arrested after he was caught red-handed allegedly molesting the second girl, a 13-year-old minor, by police officers alerted to his wrongdoing by third parties. 

The man was escorted to court on Tuesday and charged with defiling two Maltese girls, aged 11 and 13, subjecting them to non-consensual sexual acts.

Prosecuting Inspectors John Spiteri and Jeffrey Scicluna explained how district police had received a report at around midday on Monday about a young girl who was being pestered by a man.

Mohamed had allegedly grabbed the 11-year-old girl from behind as she was walking to her grandmother’s home at Floriana. The man, described by an eyewitness as wearing a checked shirt, had made sexual advances at the minor, the court heard. 

Officers promptly answered the alert, zeroing in on the suspect as another report claiming that a man was molesting a 13-year-old girl, in the same locality, reached the police.

Inspector Spiteri said that the suspect had effectively been caught red-handed. 

The man pleaded not guilty, but no request for bail was made, even in view of the fact that he had no fixed residence. 

The court, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, remanded the accused in custody and ordered a ban on publication of the underage victims’ names.

Lawyer Raisa Colombo was counsel to the accused.