The mother of the girl featured in The Malta Independent on Sunday last week, Salsabil Bel Haj Mohamed, has reacted to the facts as told in the story and warned that the girl’s father is not to be trusted.

Aida Mohamed Khias was married to Anis Bel Haj and they came to Malta in 1999. They did not have children at the time: Salsabil was born in February 2001.

Ms Khias said they lived at various addresses because since he never wanted to work the rent was never paid and they would be asked to vacate the premises.

She also claimed that he borrowed money but never paid it back and also that he used to go and gamble it away at the casino instead of providing for his family. In fact, there were instances when she and her daughter went hungry. He is also claimed to have beaten her up in front of her daughter and to have stabbed her in the leg with a knife, which required 15 stitches. However, she says she never reported him to the police because she was afraid of him.

In 2002, Salsabil’s father left home and set up house with another woman who he married according to the Islamic rite and with whom he has a child. After a while he left his new family as well: the child from this relationship is now living in a children’s home in Sliema since her mother, who is a foreigner, is still living in Malta but cannot support her daughter.

Salsabil’s mother also says that one day the child’s father tried to abduct his second daughter when she was with the baby sitter and jumped over neighbours’ roofs in Bugibba to escape with her.

The child’s mother reported the whole incident to the St Paul’s Bay police. However, he managed to escape illegally to Italy where, she alleges, he was caught by the police and also accused of murder. He was even mentioned on Italian television.

After spending a year in an Italian prison, he returned to Tunisia where, as he told Salsabil’s mother many times, he has never worked. He constantly demands money from Salsabil’s mother and keeps trying to come to Malta.