A 17-year-old girl who has been in and out of court several times to face charges of loitering for prostitution and drugs, was today warned, for the second time by a magistrate to get her life in order.

The girl, who cannot be named because she is a minor, was taken to court again after allegedly failing to follow the conditions of a supervision order and failing to complete a drug rehabilitation order imposed by the court.

The girl, who also has a history of running away from home, has been under preventive arrest for the past two weeks.

When Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit asked her what she intended doing with her life, the girl said she wanted to return home to live with her mother and intended to obey her.

She also told the court that the past two weeks in prison had been a lesson which she did not wish to see repeated. She thanked her mother for visiting her, saying nobody else had called. She also insisted that tests had shown she was drug-free and was not pregnant.

The Magistrate said the girl had a history of ignoring authority and the court was sceptical over whether to believe her.

The girl said that despite dropping out from the Caritas Programme, she was willing to follow an outreach programme.

The court put off the case to March 5 in order to verify whether the girl is really free of drug and to check whether she can follow the utreach programme. The girl was remanded in custody pending the conclusion of the case.