Nine women were charged with loitering for prostitution purposes in Marsa and Gzira today after the police carried out patrols on Sunday night.
The prosecution said that all women were known to police for prostitution and, before being arrested on Sunday, they had been warned several times to get off the streets. Most were found to have condoms and cash during the time of the arrest.
Anne Maria Bonello, 39, from Valletta was jailed for two months after she was found guilty of loitering in Marsa on and before Sunday, breaching a probation order and relapsing. The prosecution said she was with a friend, wearing a short black dress, eating a packet of Twistees when she was arrested near the petrol station - about an hour after police told her to leave. Police often saw her loitering in the area.
Magistrate Charmaine Galea noted that Ms Bonello had 47 previous convictions for loitering.
In separate cases Ritienne Cardona, 42, from Floriana and Mary Louise Magro, 28, from Gzira were conditionally discharged for six months after Magistrate Galea found them guilty of loitering in Marsa and Gzira, respectively.
Diane Celeste, 42, of Hamrun admitted to the charge and was conditionally discharged for a year for loitering in Marsa and relapsing.
Josette Galea, 24, of Floriana and April Farrugia, 25, from Gzira admitted to loitering for prostitution purposes and asked the court to help her enter a residential rehabilitation programme to overcome their drug addiction.
Ms Farrugia, who has a nine-year-old child, said she had been waiting for three months to start rehab. The magistrate ordered that a pre-sentencing report be drawn up n the case of Ms Farrugia and put of her case to October 7 for judgement.
Meanwhile, Ms Farrugia was granted bail against a personal guarantee of 3,000.
Ms Galea was put on probation for three years.
Joyce Bugeja, 45, from San Gwann, was charged with loitering in Gzira after the court heard how she was seen sitting on a chair on the doorstep of an apartment block in Testaferrata Street. The prosecution said she had been in this job since 1991. The court acquitted her on lack of evidence.
Judith Bakoush, 23, of Valletta - who is pregnant - was also acquitted of loitering in Marsa due to lack of evidence.
Gianella Okeakpci, 26, of St Paul's Bay pleaded not guilty to loitering in Gzira and resisting arrest when she refused to get into the police car, relapsing and committing a crime during the operative time of a suspended jail term. She was remanded in custody.