Sex offender to be re-sentenced due to technical error

A man facing a possible jail term over a sexual assault in the early hours of Christmas Day 2015, will have to be re-sentenced after a court of appeal annulled the first judgment. Najm Fahd, a 23-year old Syrian national, had been declared guilty by a Magistrates’ Court of having engaged in sexual acts with the 16-year old Maltese girl, held her against her will, assaulted her and ran on the streets creating a possible menace to third parties. The assault had taken place close to 2am on Christmas Day when the teenager was returning home on foot after a private party at Baystreet. Walking in the vicinity of Pembroke, the girl had described how she had sensed someone following her, hearing the clinking of some keychain in the background, before being grabbed from her coat by a stranger wearing a blue and white striped jumper. He had first asked for directions to Ħamrun but had suddenly pushed her against the porch wall of a private residence and tried to force himself upon her, kissing and groping her before he was shoved backwards by the girl who managed to run away home. The girl’s mother, upon hearing of the assault, had gone in search of the suspect, alerting the police when...