A man, with past convictions on his criminal record, landed a fresh one on Tuesday night after he was caught red-handed stealing from a Birkirkara petrol station.

Dennis Cremona, 43, an unemployed Marsa resident, was taken to court on Thursday to face charges of aggravated theft, willful damage to third party property and being in possession of tools used in break-ins.

Prosecuting inspector Elton Taliana informed the court that although the theft had yielded a minimal amount of cash, some €6 in all, the damage caused to the machine clocked up the bill to over €250.

The man, with past convictions for theft, was further charged with being a relapser.

Following the accused’s admission, the court, presided over by magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace, heard submissions on punishment wherein both the prosecution and defence lawyer Joseph Brincat agreed that the adequate punishment would be a six-month effective jail term.

In the light of these submissions and in view of the accused’s early guilty plea, the court condemned him to an effective jail term of six months.