A young man currently serving time over a series of thefts today returned to court to face fresh charges of thefts and voluntary damage to vehicles at the Blata l-Bajda Park and Ride.

The young offender, who last month made an impassioned speech in court declaring that he had been living rough since being released from jail, had been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after admitting to 22 thefts from cars and 14 other charges of voluntary damage to third party property.

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Shaun Caruana, 22, from Paola, was arraigned this morning before Magistrate Ian Farrugia on 14 charges of voluntary damage to cars left at the car park. The man was also charged with stealing from three of the vehicles.

The prosecution explained that on the morning of August 21, the police had received reports of the alleged vandalism which had taken place some time between 9am and noon.

An undisclosed amount of cash had been stolen, together with two cameras and other personal items of property.

Working upon evidence retrieved from the scene, consisting mainly of fingerprints and CCTV footage, investigators had eventually focused their suspicions upon the young man.

Although he pleaded not guilty, no request for bail was made at this stage owing to the fact that the suspect was currently serving a prison sentence at Corradino.

Inspectors Daryl Borg and Jeffrey Scicluna prosecuted while lawyer Noel Bartolo was legal aid.