Prostitute and associates charged with extorting €33,000 from elderly man

Six individuals have been charged in connection with the extortion of €33,000 from an elderly Englishman.

Clyde Mallia, 24 from Ħal Għaxaq and his brother Mario Mallia, 25, were arraigned together with Massimo Fasanelli, 25, from Marsaskala, Chanelle Spiteri, 24, from Mtarfa, as well as Christine Schembri, 41 and her 18-year-old daughter Xasnolley Schembri, both of whom are from Marsa.

Mallia and Fasanelli were further charged with the aggravated theft of a motor car and detaining the elderly owner against his will. Both Mallia brothers and Fasanelli were also charged with the aggravated thefts of a watch and electronics from the victim, grievously injuring him in the process. Fasanelli was further charged, together with Clyde and Mario Mallia, with extorting €33,000 and detaining the victim against his will.

Clyde Mallia and Mario Mallia were also charged with breaching bail conditions. Fasanelli was charged with breaching three sets of bail conditions.

All six defendants were also accused of money laundering.

Police Inspector Stephen Gulia told magistrate Nadia Vella that the elderly victim had filed a report at the Valletta police station, telling the police that he had been extorted by a prostitute and her associates, starting from January 2022 until the day he filed the report on June 1.

The victim would regularly buy sex from Chanelle Spiteri, the court was told. On one of his visits, in January 2022 he had found the two Mallia brothers waiting for him instead of Spiteri.

They proceeded to assault him and then forced him to transfer €14,000 to Spiteri.

Some years later, the man had started receiving threats again, this time also from Fasanelli. The inspector explained that the man had been threatened with beatings and the publication of embarrassing videos of his encounters with Spiteri, and had been forced to make more transfers, to both Schembri brothers.

As part of the investigation, Inspector Gulia had examined the bank accounts involved and confirmed that the transaction histories tallied with the man’s account.

The suspects were arrested yesterday, in a coordinated police operation. The first to be taken into custody by the police were the Schembris at their home in Marsa. Mario Mallia was arrested next, followed by Schembri and then Fasanelli.

Fasanelli attempted to escape arrest but was later arrested in Mosta. Clyde Mallia was already being held at the Corradino Correctional Facility, under preventive arrest on other charges.

Lawyer Herman Mula, assisting Fasanelli, grilled the inspector at length on whether there had been a delay in granting his client the right to speak to his lawyer.

“No. From the moment of his arrest, I did not speak to Fasanelli before he consulted with his lawyer and his statement was taken yesterday.”

At that point, Inspector Lydon Zammit informed the court that Fasanelli had just insulted the witness. A small row broke out, resulting in Fasanelli’s wife being ordered to leave the courtroom by the magistrate.

Gulia refuted the suggestion, in the face of persistent insinuations by the defence lawyer and insisted that he had not questioned Fasanelli without his lawyer present.

After much back and forth, it was established that the evidence against Fasanelli had been disclosed to him immediately after his arrest, but before he had spoken to his lawyer and that no questions had been asked while he was unassisted.

Lawyer Mario Mifsud, assisting both Schembris, raised another point, telling the court that the 48 hours from his clients’ arrest had lapsed, meaning that they were no longer legally under arrest.

He asked the court to release them and order that they be charged by summons, cryptically adding that “we should use the same ruler for everyone.”

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The Mallias' lawyer, Franco Debono, asked about the time which the inquiring magistrate had been informed of the arrest. Inspector Andrew Agius-Bonello replied that this had taken place around 20 minutes before the lapse of the six-hour period in which the law stated he had to do so. “If I remember correctly, it was at around 3:10pm.”

Fasanelli had been under police surveillance and was observed using a car which he had stolen from the victim, Inspector Gulia explained. The police decided to arrest him as was getting into the car. But when the police moved in as he approached the vehicle, Fasanelli had fled on foot, throwing the car keys into a nearby garden.

When he was eventually taken into custody, he was read his rights, but the police had to stay with him until the vehicle could be towed away, and it could not be opened without the key, explained the inspector.

In the meantime he was taken to the Mosta police station. “At no point did he say he wanted to speak to a lawyer,” Inspector Gulia told the court.

After hearing well over an hour of defence submissions contesting the validity of the arrest, the court declared the arrests of Massimo Fasanelli, Chanelle Spiteri and Clyde Mallia to be valid. The arrests of Xasnolley Schembri, Christine Schembri and Mario Mallia were declared null.

Christine Schembri, Xasnolley Schembri, both unemployed and Mario Mallia, who told the court he worked at Mare Blu, pleaded not guilty.

Clyde Mallia, who also said he was employed at Mare Blu, pleaded not guilty

Fasanelli told the court he was unemployed and pleaded not guilty.

Chanelle Spiteri, who opted not to reply when asked about her employment status, pleaded not guilty. She was granted bail against a €500 deposit and a €3,000 personal guarantee, ordered to sign a bail book every day.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Adreana Zammit assisted the Mallia brothers, while the Schembris were represented by lawyers Mario and Nicholas Mifsud. Lawyer Herman Mula appeared for Fasanelli. Francesca Zarb was defence counsel to Spiteri.

Prosecutors Darlene Grima and Charmaine Abdilla are representing the Office of the Attorney General in the proceedings, assisting police inspectors Stephen Gulia and Andrew Agius-Bonello.