Two Bulgarian women caught begging in Sliema told a court yesterday that they had been conned into coming to Malta to work and ended up having to take to the streets to raise funds for a flight ticket back home.

Elena Varbanova, 20, and Paska Stancheva, 23, pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them: leading an idle life and living like a vagabond as well as to pestering people to donate money.

Lured here by promise of a job

Magistrate Anthony Vella heard how one was caught in Tower Road, corner with Cathedral Street, while the other was found outside the Tigné Point Shopping Complex. He heard how the women came to Malta after they were promised a job. However, when they arrived they could not trace the person who had promised them work.

They spent all their money on lodgings and had to resort to begging to raise funds to purchase a flight ticket back to Bulgaria.

Magistrate Vella let them off by conditionally discharging them for a month.

Police inspector Jason Sultana prosecuted while lawyer Anthony Cutajar appeared for the women.