A 25-year-old man who threatened to share indecent material of an underage girl who had sent him nude images of herself when aged 15 was granted bail upon his arraignment on Thursday. 

Ramadan Hamed, a Syrian construction worker living at Marsascala, was arrested after the now-17-year-old Maltese woman called the police, sounding all worried, and saying that someone was threatening to share sexual videos featuring herself. 

Prosecuting inspector Joseph Busuttil explained that two years ago, a foreign man had communicated with the 15-year-old on social media and asked her to send him photos of herself “doing sexual things”.

More recently, the man got in touch with the now 17-year-old, asking her to enter into a sexual relationship with him.

When the girl refused, he allegedly threatened to share the indecent material he still possessed. 

When arrested, the man confirmed the minor’s version but insisted that he wanted to teach her a lesson so that she would not share such images of herself ever again.

During his arraignment on Thursday, the accused pleaded not guilty to producing or sharing the indecent material concerning a minor, acquiring such material, harassment, as well as asking for sexual favours. 

The prosecution objected to bail mainly because the minor was still to testify and social media provided every means for the accused to contact his alleged victim.

However, defence lawyer Jason Grima countered that police already possessed the chat between the accused and the minor as well as the videos involved. 

The man had also given his version under questioning and his brother, also present in court, could step in as third-party guarantor.

After hearing submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Josette Demicoli, deemed that the accused satisfied guarantees in terms of law and granted bail against a deposit of €1,000, a personal guarantee of €7,000, signing the bail book three times weekly and under a curfew between 11pm and 6am.

He was also ordered not to approach prosecution witnesses, particularly the minor.