A 14-year-old girl was followed home by a Maltese man driving a van who kept whistling at her and offering her a lift home.

The victim’s mother came forward after recent news surfaced of a woman who was followed home and sexually assaulted in her apartment’s communal area.

The incident occurred around two months ago at 11am, with the young girl being followed in broad daylight while she was making her way back home from private lessons.

As she was walking, the girl started feeling as if she was being followed. Looking back, she finds a man driving a van, who quickly began to call out to her “ejja ħa nkellmek”, which translates to “come here let me talk to you”.

The man continued trying to grab her attention and whistling at her, and even though she was not giving him any attention, he proceeded to follow her.

He then asked the girl her age and where she lived, but the girl refused to answer his questions or entertain his requests.

The victim soon began to realise that he was not giving up his pursuit of following her, and decided to go down a narrow road to try and lose him. But this was to no avail, as the van continued to follow. 

At this point, the girl called her mother, who recounted how astonished and scared she sounded over the phone as the mother started to fear for her daughter’s safety.

As panic continued to rise, the girl decided to seek help from some workers who were nearby, explaining that she had been followed by a man for the last 30 minutes.

A LESA warden happened to be close by, who assisted the girl, telling her to go home and assuring her that he will take care of the situation. 

However, the mother explained that when she called to check what LESA had done about the situation, she received a string of inconsistent replies, with LESA then saying that such an event does not fall within their remit.

Following the incident, the victim was scared to make a police report, fearing that this could impose a risk on her life.

Have you ever experienced something similar on Malta’s streets?