Moroccan woman cleared of fraud

A Moroccan woman was yesterday cleared of defrauding two men by taking their money in exchange for a clandestine trip to Italy which she never organised.

Naom Aicha, 40, was cleared of defrauding Moroccans Aoussi Ahmed and Banni Redouane of $1,000 and $1,500 respectively, on April 25.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard how the two men claimed that Aicha had promised to organise a trip to Italy in exchange for payment but after they paid her and gave her their passports she did not keep her side of the deal.

But Aicha denied taking their money or promising them anything. She explained that she had come to Malta with Ahmed and Redouane, who were related to her, to visit her daughter who had married a Maltese man and had just had a baby.

The magistrate also heard a police constable testify that he had stopped Aicha and the men on arrival at the airport. He also said that the men had $100 each.

Aicha's son-in-law Joseph Muscat intervened and showed police that their flight ticket was for a one-week stay and assured police that he would make sure that they would leave within a week. Muscat took their passport as a security.

But a week later the men escaped and Aicha reported them to police.

The magistrate ruled that Aicha's version was more likely than that given by Ahmed and Redouane. This was because it was very unlikely that they had paid $1,000 and $1,500 when they only had $100 each on arrival in Malta.

She also noted that if Aicha had something to hide she would not have reported them to police and said that she felt the two men had invented the story as an excuse after being caught without a visa.

Police Inspector Denise Mula prosecuted.