A 15-year-old secondary school student yesterday admitted to stealing her grandmother’s jewellery to help her homeless, penniless boyfriend.

No price tag was put to the haul but one ring alone had an estimated value of about €18,000, a police inspector told a court yesterday.

The girl, whose name is not being published because she is a minor, stole several items from her grandmother’s apartment in Madliena Village on January 21 while she was spending the night at her house.

Only an earring has been recovered as all the other items were sold off to a jewellery shop, police inspector Bernard Spiteri said during the girl’s arraignment.

She was also accused, along with her boyfriend, an 18-year-old from Gżira, with attempting to burgle her grandmother’s house at around 1.30 p.m. last Saturday when she surprised them as they were trying to enter the apartment. The inspector said there was no forced entry as the girl had taken the keys.

In a separate arraignment, a 16-year-old boy, also from Gżira, was accused of being a part of this attempted burglary but his lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi, said his client insisted the couple was lying about his involvement.

The couple pleaded guilty to the charges while the 16-year-old boy pleaded not guilty. His lawyer said his client wanted to confront the other two.

Before handing down judgement, Magistrate Neville Camilleri asked why they had carried out an act of this sort. The 18-year-old, who refused to be assisted by a lawyer, promptly said he found himself in dire straits with nowhere to live, since he had been thrown out of his parents’ house.

“So you’re going to do this every time you find yourself in dire straits? You’re only 18 so you’re going to find yourself in dire straits many times in your life,” the Magistrate told him, pointing out that he now had a stain on his police record.

The boy apologised while his girlfriend told the magistrate that she had done what she did to help her boyfriend, who was jobless, penniless and had nowhere to live.

Inspector Spiteri and lawyer Patrick Valentino, representing the 15-year-old girl, said they had agreed that a probation order would be fitting in the circumstances.

Magistrate Camilleri placed her on probation for three years and jailed her boyfriend for 18 months, suspended for three years.

The 16-year-old boy, who appeared in court in the company of his grandmother, was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €2,000.