The attorney general’s office has asked the court to impose harsher bail conditions on the five girls and a boy who allegedly ganged up against a 16-year-old boy, robbing him of cash and stabbing him with a penknife in a Floriana public garden.

In an urgent application filed before the Court of Appeal, the AG asked the court to amend the bail conditions especially since the alleged victim had not yet testified. 

Last Tuesday, the group, aged between 14 and 20, were charged in court after they were identified as the alleged aggressors behind the mugging that took place on the previous Saturday evening at around 7pm at a public garden just outside City Gate.

Police from the Valletta station found the victim lying on the ground, with visible injuries to his face and hands. 

He was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital where doctors confirmed he had sustained cut ligaments in his hands. His injuries were classified as grievous.

The group appeared before Magistrate Joseph Mifsud charged with grievously injuring the victim and wilfully breaching the public peace. 

The 14-year-old boy and five females – one aged 17 from Paola, two sisters aged 14 and 15 from Gżira, a 15-year-old from Valletta and 20-year-old Aicha Mariah from Paola – all pleaded not guilty. 

Three of the girls were charged with aggravated theft while the 20-year-old was separately charged with unlawful possession of the penknife as well as relapsing. 

The alleged victim was not only attacked but also robbed of his bag, containing some €90 in cash.

The court upheld a request for bail by defence lawyers Franco Debono, Francesca Zarb, Adreana Zammit, Ishmael Psaila, Dustin Camilleri and Alexia Attard against a personal guarantee of €2,000 each, under a curfew between 10pm and 6am, signing the bail book once a week and under strict orders not to approach the victim in any manner. 

The prosecution had objected to bail since the victim was still to testify and was still in hospital.

But Magistrate Mifsud dismissed their request, stating that although the young offenders deserved a warning, they ought not to be remanded in custody but rather allowed to go back to their studies.

In his appeal, attorney general lawyer Kenneth Camilleri said the first court had been “very lenient” with the accused, especially after having ignored the prosecution’s concerns about the strong possibility of tampering with evidence. 

He asked the court to vary the conditions by, among others, imposing more onerous and effective financial deterrents as well as imposing a supervision order so the defendants would be followed closely. 

A hearing has been set for Monday. 

The victim told the police he was attacked by a group of six and identified one of the aggressors as a 14-year-old Maltese boy from Żurrieq. 

Working on CCTV footage and information gathered through hours of intensive police work, investigators managed to identify the other five suspects who were tracked down and arrested. 

Sources said the alleged victim was an ex-boyfriend of a friend of the co-accused and that there had been some verbal spat before the situation escalated to physical violence.