A 23-year-old man was jailed for two-and-a-half years for stealing a mobile phone during the operative period of a suspended jail term.

Yousef Kalifa, born in Libya but having a Serbian passport, admitted to stealing the Samsung Galaxy S6 from a tourist in St Julian’s on July 11 at about 4am. He was also charged with committing the crime during the operative period of an 18-month suspended jail term.

After filing his guilty plea, Mr Kalifa asked the court to show compassion. “Please give me a chance. Last time. I was drunk,” he said from the dock through an inrepreter.

Magistrate Carol Peralta, speaking in his signature thundering tone, told the man that being drunk was no excuse. “Next time don’t drink because there is no excuse to wrong others,” he said, asking the interpreter to explain to the man that he was a guest in Malta.

“While we welcome him with open arms, the fact remains that he is a guest, which means he should make an extra effort to behave,” the magistrate said adding that this was not the first time Mr Kalifa broke the law. “Will we continue excusing him? Is he always drunk?”

The magistrate also ordered that the 18-month suspended jail term be brought into effect.

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