Man, 35, accused of helping teenage girl run away from home

A 35-year-old man from Żurrieq was remanded in custody on Tuesday, after being charged with helping a 16-year-old girl, who is the subject of a protection order, to abscond from her designated address.

Omar Trabelsi was arraigned before Magistrate Nadine Lia by police inspector Mark Cremona, accused of the crime, as well as with stealing a wheelchair and failing to comply with a police order to attend a police station. He was further charged with living an idle and vagrant life and recidivism.

Inspector Cremona told the court that the police had received information about individuals, including an adolescent, who were sleeping rough in the Gżira area.

The defendant told the court that he was in a relationship with the minor, telling the magistrate that social care agency Appoġġ was also aware and would speak to and feed the pair.

Trabelsi pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court asked as to whether bail would be requested.

"The facts are what they are. He instructed me to request bail, and so I have," were legal aid lawyer Maria Karlsson’s desultory submissions on bail.

Th prosecution objectrd to the request due to the seriousness of the offence and the fact that Trabelsi was a recidivist with no fixed abode.

The man was remanded in custody, however, with the court explaining that it was not sufficiently reassured that he would obey the conditions it would impose.