A mother and son who stole an Eritrean man’s mobile phone were given a suspended jail term yesterday.

Rosaline Xuereb, 44, and her 26-year-old son Ian, of Floriana, were found guilty of also slightly injuring Ftsum Sbhatu on October 18, 2012.

Mr Sbhatu told the police that the two had attacked him and stolen his mobile phone and around €130 in cash in a Floriana garden.

Mr Xuereb hit him on the neck while Ms Xuereb covered his mouth.

They took his belongings and ran off. Shaken, he approached a soldier stationed outside the Italian Embassy in Floriana and tried to explain what happened in broken English.

The soldier testified that Mr Sbhatu was crying at the time and he called in the police for him.

Eventually, the police established who the suspects were and went to their apartment but nobody answered the door. After several attempts, the police decided to break down the door.

The suspects claimed not to have heard the police knocking because they were asleep.

Both denied attacking Mr Sbhatu or stealing his mobile phone and money. But Magistrate Edwina Grima said she did not believe the Xuerebs as they had changed their version of events several times during the investigation.

She also found it “strange” that they were reluctant to open the door to the police when, according to them, they had done nothing wrong.

“The court believes they tried to hide from the police not to get caught”.

In handing down judgment, she noted that both had a drug addiction problem and jailed them for two years suspended for four. She also placed them on a supervision order.