A shopkeeper wept through his arraignment on Sunday as he pleaded guilty to unwanted sexual advances upon a female customer three days ago.

Jemal Abubeker Hilafu, a 27-year-old Eritrean national, ended up in hot water after touching the woman’s breasts when she called at his Ħamrun store at around 3.30pm on Thursday afternoon.

That unwanted move landed him under arrest.

He was escorted to court on Sunday afternoon, weeping as he faced charges for committing that sexual act against the woman’s will and offending public morals and decency while subjecting his victim to offensive, humiliating, degrading or intimidating behaviour.

The man pleaded guilty, as his lawyer, Matthew Xuereb requested a pre-sentencing report asking for bail in the meantime.

The accused had a clean criminal record and the alleged incident had been targeted by various Facebook posts which extended also to persons of the same race.

Moreover, the accused feared family repercussions and did not wish to lose all he had worked for, argued the lawyer.

Xuereb further lambasted the revision exercise following the Istanbul Convention whereby the minimum punishment for such non-consensual act of a sexual nature was increased from three months to three years.

The court explained that the alleged offence carried a maximum jail term of seven years.

After hearing submissions, the court, presided over by magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia, upheld the request, granting the accused bail against a personal guarantee of €5,000, signing of the bail book twice weekly and abiding by a curfew between midnight and 5.30am.

The court also issued a protection order in favour of the victim which was to remain in effect until final judgment in March by when the pre-sentencing report should be concluded.

Inspector Andy Rotin prosecuted. Lawyer Matthew Xuereb was defence counsel.