Man hits five-year-old in the face during attempt to steal phone belonging to child's mother at Malaga café

A woman and her five-year-old son were quietly sitting on the terrace of a café in Malaga city when a man started to ask customers for money.

Then, suddenly, the man, who has numerous previous criminal convictions, allegedly hit the child in the face in an attempt to steal the mother's mobile phone. The child also suffered a cut on his leg as a glass toppled from the table and smashed.

The incident happened on 26 June in the Cruz Humilladero district, at about 10.10 am. The 51-year-old man was arrested.

Witnesses, and the victim's mother herself, said the arrested man started to ask for money from the customers of the eatery until he approached the table where the woman and the boy were. After the alleged assault he then tried to pull the mobile phone from the woman's hands, but the handset fell to the ground and the man fled the scene.

Several people alerted the local police and told officers where he had run away to. He was found a few metres from the scene where police identified and arrested him before passing him to the courts.