A taxi driver yesterday stood accused of helping himself to a Prada purse belonging to the former editor of Cosmopolitan, just 15 minutes after she landed in Malta last Tuesday. Taking the witness stand yesterday, Marcelle D'Argy-Smith, former editor of the famous women's magazine, said she left her handbag next to the driver as she "trusts the Maltese", having been here "five to six times a year for the past 20 years". In fact, besides, Hyde Park in London, Ms D'Argy-Smith calls Sliema her home. It was only after a few hours in her Sliema apartment that she realised her purse and her mobile phone had gone missing.
"I wanted to go and buy myself some flowers from Flower Power, reached into my bag for the purse and mobile phone and realised they were gone.
"When things like this happen to you and you have no friends you are stranded," she said, dismayed that the incident had ruined her stay here so far. The taxi driver, 31-year-old Stephen Galea, denied the charge. But police inspector Jason Agius said that CCTV footage taken from the airport cameras show Mr Galea fiddling with Ms D'Argy-Smith's handbag before placing it in the boot of the car.
Ms D'Argy-Smith told the court that she left the airport with the driver at about 3.30 p.m., roughly 15 minutes after landing from London. Before getting in the car she had lost sight of the handbag for a few moments while she walked the few metres to put the luggage trolley in its place.
When she turned around her suitcase and handbag had been put in the boot by the driver. Using a copy of the Koran available in the courtroom to illustrate the size of her purse, she explained that she had €600 to €700 in it. "It was not very big but rather the size of a man's wallet," she said. In submissions on bail, defence lawyer Joseph Giglio told Magistrate Silvio Meli that his client has a clean police record and that since the alleged victim had already testified there was no fear of tampering with evidence.
Inspector Agius countered that they had the CCTV footage of him and asked the court to deny bail. But the magistrate decided to grant him bail against a personal guarantee of €3,000.