Two Libyan men were arraigned in court yesterday after being charged with stealing a handbag containing two wallets from a Paceville establishment.

Tarik Ahmed Migiref Etis, 39, and Abdulwahab Mohamed Yahya, 29, pleaded not guilty to stealing the handbag belonging to a young woman who was at Hugo’s. It contained €605. The two are unemployed and live at the Ħal Far Open Centre.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke heard how the two wallets were found on their persons while the rest of the stolen items were retrieved following a police search.

Prosecuting officer Elton Taliana told the court that Mr Etis knew “nothing but how to steal” and that he was constantly going in and out of jail for repeatedly stealing from cars and establishments. He was also charged with breaking bail conditions.

Lawyer Joe Ellis requested bail but Insp. Taliana objected, describing Mr Etis as “completely unreliable”, adding that the court was therefore unable to trust him.

Mr Yahya, on the other hand, had a clean record. Mr Etis was remanded in custody, while Mr Yahya was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €3,000.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.