Man accused of damaging appliances in 50 households

A man was yesterday charged with causing tens of thousands of euro worth of damage to around 50 households after allegedly stealing electric cables from a substation in Cospicua on Monday night and causing a power surge as a result.

The police also added an open-ended charge for damages because of new claims still coming in from people whose appliances were literally fried by the surge.

Gordon Grima, 35, of Cospicua pleaded not guilty to 53 charges, including theft of the cables worth €1,500, causing around €4,000 damage to the substation, and 51 counts of damage to residents’ appliances.

At one point during the arraignment, Mr Grima’s girlfriend entered the courtroom crying and tried to give the accused a kiss but was held back and took a seat in the public gallery.

She walked out shortly afterwards only to return once proceedings were over and the accused had been denied bail. Still crying, she grabbed his head and kissed him on the lips. The couple were then escorted out together.

Police sources said that while they were investigating the substation case, they received information about three other thefts of electric cable from the Kordin Industrial estate and from Palumbo dockyard.

In fact, in separate arraignments, the police charged Sandro Degabriele 31, Jean Pierre Mamo, 27, Richard Decelis, 18, and Dominic Fava, 38, all of Cospicua, with stealing the cables in separate incidents between September 1 and 22.

Mr Mamo and Mr Decelis were granted bail against a personal guarantee of €3,000 each while the other two men were remanded in custody.

Police Inspectors Anthony Portelli and Fabian Fleri prosecuted.

Lawyer Franco Galea also appeared for the men.