Four men plead not guilty over string of Pieta muggings

Four men who have been accused of a series of muggings in Pieta on Sunday have been remanded in custody after pleading not guilty.

The men are William Kelly Harrison, 27, an unemployed Valletta resident, Priviledge Mupimhidzi, a 33 year old Zimbabwe national who is currently homeless and unemployed, 28 year old Ahmed Salah Lawan, who is a Libyan national living in Żurrieq and also unemployed, and Deko Susanto, 20 an Indonesian national who works as a plasterer but is also currently homeless, were all arraigned on Tuesday.

On Monday, the family of a 68 year old man described how he was beaten by a group of robbers who stopped to ask him for a cigarette. When he informed them that he does not smoke, the group began to hit and assault the man.

The court heard how police were on the trail of three main suspects and arrested them. They also found that another mugging had taken place allegedly involving the three.

While interrogating them, they got to know of a fourth suspect. The first three were charged with a violent robbery on Sunday afternoon, another attempted robbery on the same day and another mugging on 8 September.

Mupimhidzi, Harrison and Susanto were separately charged with another mugging at Jubile Grove on Saturday afternoon, and also a violent incident concerning the 68 year old Maltese victim, which took place in the Sa Maison area on Sunday. Mupimhidzi was separately charged with infliction injuries upon the victim. Harrison and Mupimhidzi were also charged with relapsing.

Lawyers of all four accused made no request for bail, as none of the men had fixed addresses.

Inspector Lydon Zammit and Mario Xiberras prosecuted. Lawyers Mark Mifsud Cutajar, Josette Sultana and Graziella Tanti were legal aid counsel.