Man jailed for selling contents of dying mother's house

A drug addict who was charged with selling the contents of his dying mother's house yesterday told a court that he recently failed to sign the bail book because he fell into a depression after her death.

Johann Calleja said he had not signed the bail book at first because he was at her bedside and secondly because after her death he fell into a deep depression. He wasn't even answering the phone or the door.

In cross examination, Police Inspector Fabian Fleri confronted him and said that he was in prison when she was dying so he could have not been by her side.

Mr Calleja was stumped.

Earlier, Police Inspector Jesmond Borg said that since January he had failed to sign the bail book 38 times and although he could understand the bereavement, there was a limit.

Mr Calleja's mother, Carmen, was terminally ill with cancer when he was allegedly caught by police officers selling the contents of her house while she was in hospital.

She had no idea of what her 23-year-old son was getting up to and when the police questioned him about what was happening he could not come up with a reasonable answer and was arrested.

He remained in preventative custody until a day before she died on February 19.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli jailed him for a month.