Jurgen Zahra, a 26-year-old man from Zejtun, today was ordered to serve an 18-month prison term after he was found guilty of violent indecent assault on an unsuspecting Hungarian woman.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia, presiding over the case, commented that the court must follow the letter of the law when it concluded that Mr Zahra was not guilty of attempted rape. According to Maltese law, one can only be convicted of attempted rape if at the time of the incident, the accused and the victim’s genitals come in contact with each other.

Apart from being charged with attempted rape and violent indecent assault, he was also charged with using violence to force the victim to commit acts against her will, causing her slight injury and offending her morals while in a public place.

The incident took place on 26 June 2011 in the early hours of the morning, when the accused was walking in the area between Paceville and San Gwann, passed the tunnels of Regional Road and then down the hill towards San Gwann, in the area of Birkirkara Road. The victim had been walking when a car driven by Mr Zahra had spotted her and began driving slowly next to her. The courts heard how the accused, Mr Zahra, tried to speak with her. Mr Zahra was drunk at the time of the incident.

After she ignored his attempt to speak with her, he then reversed the car, approached the victim and grabbed her hand. She managed to escape and ran in the direction of the playground that can be found in Birkirkara Road, just underneath the Regional Road overpass. Out of breath, and having lost her glasses, she burst into tears and cried out for help. The victim noticed that a car, the same one that Mr Zahra was driving, had stopped by the playground with the door open and the lights on.

She could not see properly and started screaming for help. At this point the accused approached her from behind and covered her mouth so that she would not be able to scream and therefore draw attention. He forcibly held her in place, all the while the victim was trying to fend him off, which led the accused to beat his victim into submission. Having delivered a number of violent blows to the head, Mr Zahra managed to drop his victim to the ground, and managed to remove her trousers. He was attempting to remove her underwear, when her attempts to break free prevented him from doing this.

Fortunately, four foreign nationals were passing by and heard the screams, saw the accused assaulting his victim and began screaming for him to stop. At this point, Mr Zahra got up and ran away from his victim and drove off. The group had managed to take down the licence plate number of the accused’s car and promptly called the police.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia, presiding over the case, commented that despite the obvious intention of Mr Zahra’s actions, he must look at the case in accordance with the law, and could therefore not find him guilty of attempted rape.

He was however found guilty of the remaining charges, and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, slapped with a €1,150 fine, and ordered to pay court expenses amounting to €1,644.