Trigger warning: This article contains explicit details that some people may find disturbing.

A 21-year-old Somali national was charged with raping a man and a woman on the streets of Ħamrun on Tuesday, Times of Malta has reported.

As Abdul Yousef Abib was charged today, inspector Joseph Busuttil testified that officers at the Ħamrun police station were alerted to a commotion on the streets at around 2am. 

Officers saw an elderly Maltese woman with her underpants down to her feet, with Abib getting off her and running away. She told officers that the stranger had assaulted her in the streets, pulled down her pants and stuffed “a finger or more” inside her genitals, causing her to bleed.

As they were speaking to the woman, an ambulance stopped nearby with an elderly Maltese man inside. 

The man told police he had been walking past San Gejtanu Church when a stranger, who was also identified as Abib, assaulted him, snatched his phone, pulled down his pants and stuffed his fingers into his anus.

Abib was arrested shortly afterwards.

Besides raping his two victims, the man has also been charged with committing non-consensual sexual acts, holding two people against their will, slightly injuring them, and stealing the elderly man’s phone.

The suspect, who was assisted by interpreters in court, is pleading not guilty. His lawyer Daniel Attard didn’t request bail but called for a psychological and psychiatric assessment of the accused, with magistrate Charmaine Galea recommending this be provided by the prison director. 

Magistrate Galea also issued a protection order in favour of the two victims as well as a ban on the publication of their names. 

Cover photo: The Ħamrun police station