Former prostitute's extortion conviction overturned on appeal

The court of appeal has revoked an effective prison sentence handed to a woman involved in a case of extortion and imposed a suspended sentence in its stead, after it noted that the threats had not been made by her.

The 32-year-old former prostitute had been sentenced to imprisonment for three years in 2015 after a court of magistrates found her guilty of loitering for the purposes of prostitution and extorting at least Lm1,048 (€2,441) from a client.

The woman had been arrested in September 2007 for loitering in an area of Marsa frequented by prostitutes and accused, together with her pimp, Stephen Mifsud, for extorting money from a man who had made use of her services by convincing him that he had impregnated the woman.

Judge Antonio Mizzi was told how the woman had serviced her client in his car in a secluded area and that during the act, she had told him that the condom he was using had burst. To induce further panic, the streetwalker – who was 22 years old at the time – then told him that she was actually 17.

Telling the man that she would need Lm500 (€1,165) to pay for an abortion, she told her hapless victim to wait in the car while she fetched Mifsud, her ‘husband,’ who happened to be nearby. The pimp had approached the vehicle carrying a large rock in his hand and demanded the money.

After accepting the Lm186 (€450) the man had been carrying in his wallet, the avaricious pair accompanied him to an ATM where he withdrew an additional Lm100 (€233).

But his ordeal was far from over. A week later, the man had found the woman waiting for him outside the factory where he worked, telling him that she needed an abortion. The victim had handed her another Lm112 (€260), but the woman threatened to call Mifsud again. Fearing trouble, the victim drove her to his house and gave her another Lm250 (€582), foolishly giving her his mobile telephone number as well.

That evening, he received another phone call from the woman, demanding a further Lm250 and threatening to torch his car and his home if he gave them trouble. Fearing for his safety, the man had acquiesced.

 The next day, they called him again, the woman claiming to have contracted a bladder infection from him and demanding Lm150 (€349). After handing over the money, the victim had filed a police report. The paid were picked up by the police after the man identified them from a series of photographs.

The woman and Mifsud were both jailed for three years in 2015 after they were found guilty of extortion and relapsing.

But in a judgment handed down last week, the Court of Appeal presided by judge Antonio Mizzi, noted that the evidence presented did not prove that the prostitute had threatened the man, holding that it was "clear that the client paid the money because he was afraid of the accomplice, not the prostitute.”

The court also observed that in the time since the incident happened, the woman had changed her ways after beating her drug addiction and was now raising a family.

The court upheld the appeal, reforming the woman's punishment to a two-year sentence, suspended for four years.