A 22-year-old French student charged with stealing two laptops belonging to travel companions is insisting they had been given to him before his departure.

Maxime Tarraso was arrested at the airport with the Apple Macbook Air and the Asus laptop before he was due to catch a plane out of Malta.

The alleged theft took place at 6.45pm on Sunday from an apartment in Tigné Street, Sliema.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit heard how Mr Tarraso had come to Malta on holiday with Fatoumata Tidiana Kiota, whom he had known for several years, and her friend Caroline Le Roux.

The experience of the two French women in Malta was turning out not to be an enjoyable one since their mobile phones had also been stolen about two weeks earlier from the Havana nightclub in Paceville.

Ms Le Roux testified that she and Ms Kiota went to the beach on Sunday afternoon and when they returned to the apartment realised their laptops were missing. They found the door to their bedroom unlocked.

She had been sharing the room with her friend while Mr Tarraso was sharing another bedroom in the same apartment with his friend.

On noticing the missing laptops the women checked Mr Tarraso’s bedroom and discovered his suitcase was not there.

They called a taxi to take them to the airport and reported the matter to the airport police. The women were then referred to the Sliema police station where they were informed that Mr Tarraso had been found at the airport with the laptops.

Ms Le Roux said she had informed the landlord that her bedroom door and that of Mr Tarraso could be unlocked with the same key.

Under cross-examination, Ms Le Roux said she had been dating Mr Tarraso for a while but he had wanted to break off the relationship.

She denied his claim, forwarded by the defence, that she had given him the laptop.

She also denied suggestions that they were not on speaking terms because he had wanted to end the relationship and that her report about the laptop was made in revenge.

“I am not crazy reporting someone just because he did not want to date,” she said.

Ms Kiota gave a more or less similar account to that of her friend. She said Mr Tarraso had been her friend for several years but had let her down.

She broke down in court, saying she did not want him to get into trouble, adding that all she expected from him was an apology.

Magistrate Stafrace Zammit put off the case to today for Mr Tarraso to testify before handing down judgment.

Police Inspector Neville Mercieca prosecuted while lawyer Leontine Calleja was defence counsel.