Police ask for suspended sentence in shoplifting case

A shoplifter who made off with a digital camera was yesterday given a suspended jail term after a police inspector asked the court for a deterrent punishment.

Construction worker Johan Sciberras, 33, was caught by CCTV cameras taking the camera on December 12 from a Mosta outlet, Police Inspector Edmond Cuschieri said.

At the start of the proceedings, the inspector said he also wanted to charge Mr Sciberras with relapsing in view of the fact that he had stolen a motorbike in 1997.

Defence lawyer Joe Mifsud noted that this had happened over 10 years ago and this point should be taken into consideration when punishment was being considered.

He said Mr Sciberras would be pleading guilty to stealing the camera.

Inspector Cuschieri asked the court to hand down a suspended jail term to serve as a deterrent so as to keep Mr Sciberras on the straight and narrow.

Magistrate Edwina Grima handed down a five-month jail term suspended for one year.