A drunken man who allegedly groped a woman walking past a Ħamrun bar on Saturday morning was released from arrest upon his arraignment on Sunday after the court declared the arrest invalid. 

The incident took place on Saturday at around 11.30am when Beyene Fessahatsion Weldeabzghi, a 31-year-old Eritrean national living at a homeless shelter, allegedly touched the woman’s breasts outside the bar in Qormi Road.

Soon after, the woman turned up at the local police station, accompanied by her father, to report the incident. 

The suspect, apparently still drinking at the bar, was subsequently identified as the culprit and taken into police custody. 

On Sunday, he was escorted to court, facing charges for allegedly offending public morals or decency by indecently touching the victim in a public place, refusing to obey legitimate police orders and being found drunk in public.

He was also charged with committing the alleged offences during the operative term of a suspended sentence delivered in August. 

When the arraignment got underway, the man’s lawyers contested the validity of the arrest arguing that some of the charges were contraventional in nature and the first charge was punishable with a fine or a maximum three-month jail term. 

The court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, observed that the prosecution had not presented sufficient information to confirm identification of the accused, not even a copy of his ID card. 

Details from the police criminal information system were presented without a photo of the accused. 

Moreover, offending public morals or decency was an offence punishable with a fine or a maximum three-month jail term and did not justify arraignment under arrest. 

The court declared the arrest invalid and ordered the accused’s immediate release.

The man then pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After ordering a ban on the alleged victim’s name, the court sent the records to the Court Registrar for the case to be assigned accordingly and for proceedings to continue. 

Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb were defence counsel.