An 18-year-old man who held up a betting outlet has been put on probation and ordered to carry out community work.
Justin Scicluna was accused in November of the aggravated theft from an Izibet outlet in Mosta, of holding a person against his will, being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and of wearing a mask to hide his face.
He was also accused of breaching the conditions of a conditional discharge handed out in April 2015.
The court heard how the accused had made arrangements with his friend – with whom he had been playing Playstation games – to give him a lift to the Izibet outlet. Wearing a hoodie and a balaclava and brandishing a firearm, the teen made off with €432.
Unbeknownst to him, the Izibet employee had popped a tracking device along with the cash, allowing the police to locate the youth and recuperate the stolen money a short while later.
The accused cooperated with the police.
In his reflections, Magistrate Joe Mifsud quoted Pope Francis and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech on justice and mercy. The court was not there to satiate the cries of all those who, for every crime committed in Malta, called for the person’s head. If the court had to yield to such pressure, then the streets would be populated with a number of Barabbas', Magistrate Mifsud observed.
Apart from following the law, the court was able to use the tools provided to it by the legislator in order to help the accused give direction to his life and to reintegrate into society free from criminal behaviour.
The court therefore deemed community work to be a more apposite punishment than incarceration.
The teenager was therefore handed a three-year probation order and ordered to perform 150 hours of community work.
Police inspectors Arthur Mercieca and Nicholas Vella prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for the accused.