A 76-year-old Romanian woman who, according to the police spends the little money she has on cigarettes, was sentenced to a month in jail after admitting shoplifting.

Tita Budescu came to Malta to visit her grandson and was caught stealing two T-shirts from the Diesel outlet in Sliema on Monday at 4pm.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was told that the grandson paid for the stolen items but the woman had no money to sustain herself and wanted to return to Romania. Her grandson, who works in the construction industry in Malta, offered to buy her an air ticket to Romania.

“I do not want people begging on the streets. If she does not have the means to sustain herself she can wait in jail until the ticket is purchased and she can then go home,” the magistrate said.

“If she was capable of stealing, she should be capable of going to jail,” she added.

Defence counsel Abigail Bugeja asked the court to show clemency. The one-month prison term is the bare minimum.

Police Inspector Neville Mercieca prosecuted.