A 22-year-old man from the Ivory Coast will be sent back to Italy, where he has a temporary residence permit, after he admitted to making use of a forged passport to come to Malta.

Kone Daouda admitted to the charges before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

Police Inspector Frankie Sammut, prosecuting, explained how Mr Daouda had a valid Italian ID card and a temporary residence permit. While the permit was expired, he had a pending application to extend it.

The inspector asked the court to hand down an effective jail term. The magistrate said that, in such cases, she usually ordered effective imprisonment.

However, she has been informed by the prosecution that Mr Daouda would be repatriated. For this reason, in order not to place a financial burden on the local system, she handed down a suspended jail term so he can be sent back to Italy earlier.

She gave him an 18-month jail term suspended for three years. He will remain in detention until the travel arrangements are made.

Lawyer Alessandro Lia represented the accused.

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