Magistrate shows compassion with youth who had difficult childhood

A young man who admitted to complicity in theft was given a suspended jail term after a magistrate heard how his actions had been the result of a difficult childhood and an alcoholic father who beat him.

The 21-year-old was given a two-year jail term suspended for two years after he pleaded guilty to charges of complicity in the theft of a car, damaging it and committing the crime during the operative time of a two-year jail term suspended for four years. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard probation officer Mariella Camilleri explain that the young man had an "uphappy upbringing, primarily, since his father was an alcoholic and even ended up in hospital".

Today he lived with his family in an abandoned house that was in need of extensive maintenance.

The probation officer explained that the man had problems that could be traced to the violent attitude of his father who even beat him up and threatened his mother with a knife. In fact, the young man had spent some time not speaking to his father and even had to undergo speech therapy.

Nowadays the man harboured a great deal of anger against his father, a former policeman who ended up working as a car park attendant, because he neglected the needs of the family, the court heard. Despite his low income the man contributed financially to his family.

The magistrate handed down a two-year suspended jail term and ordered that the suspended jail term he had breached be extended by another four years. The name of the man is not being published due to the sensitive nature of the case.

Police Inspector Raymond D'Anastas prosecuted.