Two foreigners residing in St Julian's were arraigned this afternoon and charged with stealing a designer watch from a jewellery store.

Mircea Copalea, who will be 33 next Thursday, and 18-year-old Marcel Muntianu, were accused of stealing the Emporio Armani wrist watch worth some €369 from Bling by Super Gold Jewellers early in the afternoon last Sunday.

The two Romanians, who allegedly travelled to Malta in search of employment, admitted to the theft and confirmed their guilty plea after the court warned them about the consequences of such an admission.

The court, presided by magistrate Francesco Depasquale, asked "What do the accused do here? Nothing!" The court explained that it had two options. It could either send the men to prison or else give them a suspended sentence.

"Give me a reason why I should give you a suspended sentence" the magistrate stated.

The accused, by means of an interpreter, replied that they were very sorry for what they had done. They had been tipsy at the time of the theft. They also told the court that they would return to Romania as soon as they managed to pay for flight tickets.

The court, taking note of the admission of the accused and the fact that the stolen watch had been retrieved by the police in its pristine state to be returned to its lawful owner, declared the men guilty and condemned them to a jail term of two years suspended for four years.

Having apologised repeatedly to the court, at the end of the sitting the accused also shook hands with the prosecutor, the accompanying police officer and the court reporter saying that they were very sorry for all the trouble caused.

Inspector Trevor Micallef prosecuted. Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia was legal aid.