Young woman beaten in front of toddler son on Saturday still has no access to her own police report

A traumatised young woman whose landlord mercilessly beat her in front of her three-year-old on Saturday is still, inexplicably, unable to get her hands on a copy of the police report she filed right after the incident.

The  26-year-old woman filed a police report after her landlord burst into her Mosta apartment and administered her with a severe beating in front of her three-year-old son, during which she sustained injuries to her face, knee and foot.

The landlord’s grievance was she had left a window open with the blinds blowing out. The incident occurred around 3pm on Saturday at a Mosta apartment block where both the landlord and tenant reside.

A police report was promptly filed at the Mosta police station less than an hour after the Saturday afternoon incident, but for some strange reason, the Mosta police station has been unable to print out a copy of the report for three days running because, according to family members speaking to The Shift, the sergeant who took the report was not to return to duty until Monday.

But upon the family’s return to the station on Monday, they were, incredibly, told to “try again tomorrow”.

In what smacks of a complete run around being given to a young woman who has already been through so much, the police force has so far failed to answer questions about the case sent by The Shift on whether the landlord has been charged and why the victim is still unable to access her own police report.

Criminal law experts speaking to The Shift on Monday, however, dismissed what the family is being fed by the Mosta police station as “utter rubbish” because, for starters, by this line of argumentation, if the police sergeant were to suddenly pass away no one would be able to print the police report.

“If the Mosta police station cannot print it, it can be printed from any other police station because it is one system,” a leading criminal lawyer contacted by The Shift explained.

“Any police officer can access the computer system from any police station and even from Police General Headquarters and print it, it’s basic.  All police reports are inputted into a computer system and any police officer who accesses it will leave a trace of his or her access.”

Saturday’s incident

Horrified family members speaking to The Shift on Sunday described how after the landlord, whose name is also being withheld for the time being, noticed blinds flying out of an open window of the young mother’s apartment.

He first telephoned the young mother, who was looking after her toddler-aged son in what she falsely believed was the safety of her home, “verbally assaulting her”, after which she hung up on him.

Matters escalated, and the landlord was soon pounding on her front door and shouting while the mother and son were resting on the sofa. The terrified woman phoned her father to let him know what was going on but, since she refused to open the door because she was so scared the landlord had, in the meantime, illegally let himself in with his own copies.

The landlord, who the woman’s family members describe to be some four times larger and more than twice the age of the “petite” 26-year-old, burst in, “pushed her to the floor and started hitting her in the face. He then took her mobile and hit her in the face with it.

“He continued verbally assaulting her while she was screaming for help and trying to protect her three-year-old son simultaneously.  When she managed to get hold of her phone again, he left the apartment.”

In addition to her physical injuries, the woman has been left traumatised by the incident and is living in fear for her safety and that of her son.

After visiting the polyclinic where the young woman – who prefers to remain anonymous while the police investigate – was certified as having sustained abrasions and bruises to her face, leg and knee, she filed a report on the incident at the Mosta police station.

According to family members, no action was taken by the police, and the landlord went on to “enjoy his evening”.