A Nigerian man yesterday tried to elicit sympathy from a magistrate after admitting to using counterfeit credit cards, pointing out he was trying to cope with a house loan having been made redundant two-and-half-years ago.

Raymond Obanya, 34, who lives in Waterford, Ireland, used nine credit cards in Malta containing information belonging to Mexican and American bank accounts, Police Inspector Ian Abdilla said.

He said the accused bought about €840 worth of items in Valletta and Sliema, including watches and clothes over the past few days, defrauding HSBC Malta and Bank of Valletta.

The accused gave the police a very detailed statement of how the crime was carried out and cooperated fully in the investigations, the office said, adding Mr Obanya told him he had been made redundant two-and-a-half years ago and had a house loan to pay. At this point, Magistrate Antonio Mizzi remarked that he too had a house loan but did not steal credit cards.

Mr Obanya told the magistrate he was not proud of what he had done but had two young children and could not cope after the redundancy.

Taking into consideration his admission, the magistrate jailed him for nine months.

Lawyers Adrian Camilleri appeared as legal aid.