A man caught on camera spray painting a message in a public space in Qawra, landed in greater trouble by scribbling allegations about police officers when hauled to the lockup and then failing to turn up when granted police bail.

It all started on November 21 afternoon when someone reported at Qawra police station that a “dark-skinned” man had just been spotted spray painting the ground at Triq it-Trunciera.

Following up on that information, officers went to the Fra Ben area and soon identified the suspect who was wearing clothes that matched those seen on the photo taken by the person who had filed the report.

The man was Lamin Samura Seguba, a 38-year-old Gambian national who had previous brushes with the law and was thus a familiar face to district police.

Later that same evening, while detained at the Floriana lockup he allegedly scribbled some messages on the walls of his cell, targeting two police officers involved in the investigations in his regard.

Seguba was released on police bail on condition of reporting back to the police on December 4.

But the man failed to abide by that condition and simply did not turn up.

He was re-arrested on Thursday when he went to sign the bail book and when escorted once again to the lockup, he persisted with his wall scribbles, venting his anger against two officers.

One of those he labelled an “arm rubber”- evidently meaning “armed robber”- and the other, “a killer.”

On Friday, Seguba was escorted to court facing charges for allegedly causing wilful damage to the detriment of the St Paul’s Bay local council and the Malta Police Force.

He was also charged with failing to abide by police bail conditions, refusing to supply personal details to the police as well as breaching previous bail conditions.

He pleaded not guilty.

A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution who pointed out certain errors in a lease agreement produced by the accused to prove that he had a fixed residence for bail purposes.

However, his lawyer, Franco Debono, stressed the fact that the charges were relatively minor and probably not likely to result in a term of imprisonment.

After hearing submissions, Magistrate Elaine Rizzo, upheld the request against a deposit of €2,500, a personal guarantee of €3,000 and daily signing of the bail book.

Inspector Warren Galea prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.