A man living in Marsaskala has been let out on bail after being charged with a number of charges relating to underage nudes.

Ramadan Hamed, a 25-year-old Syrian man who lives in Marsaskala, pleaded not guilty to possessing indecent material pertaining to an underage girl and with threatening to publish footage of a girl unclothed and carrying out sexual acts.

The case goes back two years, when the 15-year-old girl in question sent sexually explicit images of herself to Hamed after they spoke on social media, and Hamed asked her to send photos of herself “doing sexual things”.

The girl, who is now 17, said that two years later, Hamed got in contact with her again to ask her to meet for them to initiate a sexual relationship.

When she refused, he threatened to leak her nudes. This is when the girl contacted the police to report the situation.

When police arrested Hamed, he said he had threatened to leak the nudes to teach her a lesson to never send sexually explicit pictures of herself to third parties anymore.

Hamed pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was given bail against a €1,000 deposit, a €7,000 personal guarantee and must sign the bail book at the police station three times a week. He must not go outdoors between 11pm and 6am to follow his court-ordered curfew.

He must also not approach the victim.