The court of appeal today changed an effective jail term judgment into a suspended sentence.

The accused, whose name cannot be made public by order of the court, had been charged with loitering for prostitution or for conducting immoral acts.  Back in May 2015, the Court of Magistrates had sentenced the 32-year-old woman to three years effective prison sentence.

The court had heard how on September 2007, the woman was arrested for loitering in the Marsa area. She was also accused, together with an accomplice, of threatening a man, allegedly a client by making him believe that he impregnated the accused. The court heard how the man had paid the prostitute and her accomplice because he was made to believe that the woman wanted to get rid of the baby through abortion and that she had to buy medicines to treat an infection.

The court had heard how the prostitute and her client had sex in his car in an abandoned place, with the prostitute claiming 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.

The latter came along carrying a stone in his hand asking the client 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).

The couple were not satisfied with the amount of cash the victim had handed them over and on 7 September 2007, the woman 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, the woman called the client 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 the woman’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, the prostitute called him again and this time claimed that she had a urine infection, demanding more cash to sustain her ‘medication’.

After that day, the two stopped stalking him for money. In total, the victim was extorted some €2,450 (Lm1068).

The accused and the accomplice, a 43-year-old man, were both sentenced to three years in prison as Magistrate Marseann Farrugia had found them guilty of extortion and relapsing.

Upon appeal, the court presided by Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi, noted that the evidence brought forward by the prosecution does not prove that the prostitute tried to threaten the client. “It is clear that the client paid the money because he was afraid of the accomplice, not the prostitute.”

The court also noted that since the time when the incident allegedly happened, the accused has reformed herself and is no longer dependent on drugs. She has also stepped out of prostitution. Today, the woman is living in Gozo, is in a stable relationship and has two children.

The court decided to uphold the request and ruled that the accused’s sentence is reduced from three years of effective jail term to 2 year suspended sentence for four years.