Woman jumped into sea to escape alleged rapist, court hears
A woman’s distressed call to the emergency helpline after she jumped into the sea to escape her alleged rapist, landed a youth in custody on Wednesday. The call came through in the early hours of Tuesday morning when a young woman’s voice on the emergency line brought police rushing to the area of Valletta where the alleged victim had jumped into the waters. She claimed that she had done so to escape “the physical and sexual abuse” of Qasem Saleh, a 20-year-old Syrian construction worker whom she had been dating. The woman claimed that the abuse was still ongoing when she jumped into the sea. When police officers arrived at the site along Triq il-Mediterran at around 2.45am, they found the woman in the water. The suspect was also in the area and put up no resistance as the officers approached. The youth was taken into custody and questioned, cooperating all along, explained prosecuting Inspectors John Spiteri and Kevin Pulis. On Wednesday, he was escorted to court, pleading not guilty to rape, holding his alleged victim against her will and grievously injuring the woman with whom he was in a relationship. The accused’s lawyer, Mario Mifsud, made no request for bail at...