Stephen Mifsud, 43, today was jailed for three years for living off the earnings of a prostitute, and of extortion and relapsing while Pauline Pisani, 30, was jailed for three years for loitering, threats and extortion.
On 30 August 2007 ‘AB’ (his name cannot be published under court order) wanted to have sex with a prostitute and went to Marsa. When he came across one she asked him for some €50 in return for sexual favours.
He requested she engages in oral sex with him but she insisted that they have intercourse and he agreed. She then gave him a contraceptive.
The two had sex in his car in an abandoned place and while they were at it the prostitute claimed that the condom had burst. She pulled it off, told the man that she was only 17 and to have an abortion she would have to pay some €1,165 (Lm500). She told him to wait inside the car so that she can go get her ‘husband’ who was in the vicinity, who, it transpired was the pimp.
She returned soon after with her ‘husband’ who was carrying a stone in his hand. He introduced himself to the victim as Jason. The victim panicked and asked what they wanted and Roberta (the name used by Pauline Pisani) asked him for money.
The victim only had a total €450 (Lm186) on him and he handed them over to her. The two accompanied the victim to an ATM to withdraw a further €233 (Lm100) which he handed to ‘Jason’. They blocked the victim’s car with their car so that he could not flee.
The couple were not satisfied with the amount of cash the victim had handed them over and on 7 September 2007 Roberta waited for the victim outside the factory where he worked and when she saw him leave she approached him, telling him that she needed to have an abortion. He gave her a further €261 (Lm112).
That same evening, Roberta called AB on his mobile phone and demanded more cash. The victim told the court that he could hear a man’s voice in the background uttering the words: ‘Don’t try pull any stunts because I’ll set your car alight.’ Out of fear, the victim met the two, including another man who claimed to be Roberta’s father, and handed over some €120 to the three persons.
When he returned home, the victim told his parents what he had been through.
The next day, on 8 September, Roberta called him again and this time claimed that she had a urine infection, demanding more cash to sustain her ‘medication’.
The father of the victim spoke to the prostitute and assured him that his son would pay up. When they met up in the evening, the victim noted a tattoo on Roberta’s shoulder.
After that day, the two stopped stalking him for money. In total, the victim was extorted some €2,450 (Lm1068).
The victim lodged a report at the police station and gave a physical description of the two. The investigator in the case, Police Inspector Louise Calleja, showed him a chart which included images of Jason and Roberta.
The police interrogated both Jason and Roberta but the two denied their involvement.
The court said that it had enough evidence to send them to jail.
Magistrate Marseann Farrugia presided over the case.