Blanche*, 72, had to change the keys of her Sliema house and car, install new locks and pay for new credit cards to be issued after her handbag was stolen as she walked to Mass on New Year’s Day. However, when two Italian teenagers appeared in court and admitted the theft, the magistrate did not hear about the expenses she sustained and did not order them to pay for the damages.

The boys, aged 16 and 17 from Palermo, were given a six-month jail term, suspended for four years, and were told off for targeting an elderly woman. As often happens when an accused pleads guilty, the victim was not heard.

I cannot continue to fear everyone walking in the street, but that is how you will end up

“I wasn’t called to testify. The victim should be taken into consideration,” said Blanche.

“I would like to bring to the notice of whoever is in charge of the law that punishing them doesn’t give me any satisfaction. I would like to see some change in the law because nobody paid me for the damages.”

Her handbag was returned, torn, but her house and car keys remain missing.

“I had to cut new keys, replace the locks and pay the workman, pay €5 for each of the three bank cards I had stopped and my bag was torn. The victim should be compensated,” she said.

Blanche, who preferred not to reveal her identity so her relatives would not be worried, was walking to New Year’s Day Mass at St Gregory church, Sliema, at about 5.30pm when she was approached by the teenagers.

She initially thought they would ask for directions but then she felt a pull from behind. The handle of her bag snapped and the boys ran off with it.

She shouted for help. A man in a white van chased the two young thieves. He returned some time later and said he had told the police where her assailants were.

“He deserves a medal for gallantry,” said Blanche.

Apart from the financial inconvenience, she must also cope with the fear caused by the experience.

“I cannot continue to fear everyone walking in the street, but that is how you will end up. If you hear footsteps behind you or see someone walking in your direction, you are afraid.

“I have to fight it and get on with my life,” she said, recalling the case of an 80-year-old woman from Sliema who died from injuries sustained during a mugging in 2010.

Rose Garroni was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the doorstep of her Dingli Circus flat still clutching the handle of her bag: all that was left after it was probably ripped off her.

“They killed her to take her stuff. And she did not have much money on her, just like me. I only had two €10 notes.

“ I don’t carry gold or anything except for the miraculous medal of Our Lady,” she said, pulling it over her polo neck.

“I am sure that Our Lady helped me,” she said confidently.