A mother of five “obsessed” with her unemployed boyfriend offered to prostitute herself when the couple could not keep up with the bills, a court heard yesterday.

The pair had only been together five months when she tattooed his name on her back, Police Inspector Graziella Muscat, prosecuting, told the court yesterday, stressing the woman’s “obsession” with him.

The boyfriend admitted to living off the earnings of prostitution.

Bizarrely, he walked into the courtroom barefoot despite being offered a pair of shoes by the officer. He declined to wear them even after the prosecuting officer told him he could be held in contempt of court. In fact, the police made him sign a declaration saying he had turned down the offer before being arraigned.

The couple ended up in dire financial straits and the woman offered to prostitute herself to pay the bills, asking only that he accompany her to Marsa, where she plied her trade, for protection, the officer said.

The couple was arrested in Marsa on Monday evening and the police later discovered that from the proceeds of one night’s work with four clients she gave her boyfriend €20 with which he bought a couple packets of cigarettes and a drink or two.

In pleas on punishment, the inspector said the man had cooperated with the police and had shown remorse, adding she felt that a probation period was ideal in the circumstances.

Legal aid lawyer Renzo Porsella Flores agreed, pointing out that the amount involved was only €20.

However, Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani said she felt the case warranted a suspended jail term. She said she found it difficult to understand how a healthy-looking 24-year-old man could not have a full-time job, to which he replied he had been out of work for a month and, before that, he did different jobs on and off.

He also muttered that, in this case, he had done nothing wrong. On hearing this, the magistrate became visibly irritated, noting that he evidently still did not understand what he had done wrong. She then handed down a six-month jail term suspended for two years and issued a protection order banning him from seeing his girlfriend.

The court also issued a supervision order, meaning he will have a probation officer helping him.

Magistrate Padovani warned him she could very easily have him jailed if he did not follow the probation officer’s instructions.