Magistrate gives brothers a lesson

A magistrate yesterday remanded two teenage brothers in custody for a night to teach them a lesson before he passes judgment this morning following their admission that they stole a car and went on a joyride.

The young men, 17 and 16 years old, stole the Mitsubishi car on Monday at about 6.30 p.m. from Birżebbuġa and were caught shortly afterwards.

They admitted to taking the car and the older one admitted he drove without a licence and insurance and that he breached the conditions of a previous release.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti asked them whether they knew the maximum jail term they faced and they replied they did not. He quickly informed them it was seven years and, on hearing this, the older boy looked shocked and took a few steps back. Then, as per procedure, the magistrate gave them some time to reconsider their guilty plea.

The pair, adopted from Romania, discussed the case with their social workers and lawyers outside the court room before returning to confirm their guilty pleas.

The older one was also heard asking his probation officer what to do and she explained that all she could do was explain the various types of punishments that he could receive but it was up to him to make the decision.

Legal aid lawyer Adrian Camilleri asked the court to listen to the boys’ social workers who said they had only come to know of the case two to three days ago but the fact that the parents did not show up in court spoke for itself.

Furthermore, when the police tried to contact their father he hung up on them and they had been living on the street for some days.

In submissions on punishment, Police Inspector Priscilla Caruana said three days before they stole the car she had spoken to them and warned them to keep to the straight and narrow.

Having said that, she said they had cooperated with the police and in her opinion a jail term would not be ideal.

The magistrate said he was remanding the brothers in custody in the hope they would understand where they would end up if they did not change their ways.