A Zimbabwean man who helped himself to items hotel guests had left in their rooms was yesterday jailed for six years.

The court said Stephen Priviledge Mipimhidzi, 28, who lives with his foster parents in Buġibba, had been given various opportunities to get his life back on track but had not taken advantage of those chances.

He pleaded guilty to no less than 19 thefts from rooms in two hotels and three attempted thefts in St Paul’s Bay between May and August 2008.

He stole anything he could find in rooms at St Paul’s Hotel and the Topaz Hotel. The items included several mobile phones, digital cameras, video recorders, ipods and MP3 players, cash and an iPhone.

He had left his foster parents’ home without even telling them

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia heard his probation officer testifying that the accused had been jailed in 2008 and had resolved to reform his life. He had finished a drug rehabilitation programme and had started a four-year course at the Institute for Tourism Studies. But he was back to his old habits, had left his foster parents’ home without even telling them and had lost contact with his probation officer. He had even stopped the ITS course.

The court noted that, at such a young age, Mr Mipimhidzi already had 10 convictions on his police record, six of them related to thefts and others in connection with grievous and slight injuries.

The magistrate heard that Mr Mipimhidzi had a difficult childhood and had lost both his parents by the age of nine. He was fostered but did not integrate well, so he started abusing drugs and set on a life of crime. The court had given him various opportunities to reform but to no avail. Given his background, Magistrate Farrugia jailed him for six years.

Police Inspector Jesmond Micallef prosecuted.