Two unemployed men from Qormi were today charged separately with of their involvement in two snatch and run incidents targeting elderly in their hometown on two separate occasions last month.

Tristan Falzon, 34, and Roderick Stanyer, 30, were accused of having been together involved in a robbery on a 63-year-old lady who was assaulted on November 12 at around 7.30pm in Narbona Square, Qormi. The victim suffered serious injuries and is in fact still in hospital receiving treatment for torn ligaments.

The court heard how an eyewitness, a polish national who happened to be cycling by when the aggression took place, had testified before the police that the thief had grabbed the lady's handbag, pushing her to the ground and running off to a getaway car, a Skoda Felicia allegedly driven by a woman.

Mr Falzon was further charged with a second robbery which took place a few days later. In fact, on November 20 at around 7.15am, a snatch and run incident was reported in Manwel Dimech Street, Qormi. Once again the target was a 66-year-old lady who suffered slight injuries as a result of the assault. The accused was also charged with having traded in stolen goods.

A mobile phone retrieved by the police led to the arrest of Mr Falzon who, at first denied his involvement but later declared that the phone belonged to Mr Stanyer, the court was told. When the police held a confrontation between the two suspects this morning, the resulting evidence led to their arraignment later in the afternoon.

Mr Falzon, who is a relapser and who was also charged with having violated a probation order, pleaded not guilty. However, no request for bail was registered by his lawyer.

Mr Stanyer also pleaded not guilty and requested bail. His lawyer argued that at this stage, the suspect was still to be presumed innocent. Moreover the court was told that the accused had an otherwise clean criminal record sheet and had cooperated fully with the police, a fact confirmed by the prosecution.

In spite of this, the court denied the accused bail owing to the serious nature of the crime as well as the fact that several witnesses were still to testify.

Inspectors Fabian Fleri and Kylie Borg prosecuted. Lawyer Mark Vassallo was counsel to Mr Falzon, while Christopher Chircop was legal aid counsel to Mr Stanyer.