A defence lawyer yesterday wanted to ask the 83-year-old uncle of a 16-year-old girl if he had paid her money in return for sexual favours but was denied the question by the magistrate on the ground that it was not relevant to the case.

Lawyer Peter Fenech is representing the girl and her 16-year-old boyfriend, who are charged with stealing the elderly man’s €400 pension after they took him to McDonald’s at the airport for something to eat.

On the day in question, the young couple, who live at the YMCA shelter for the homeless, accompanied the elderly man to Valletta to cash his pension cheque, Police Inspector Jason Agius testified yesterday.

On leaving the bank, he gave the girl €120 and paid €30 for a taxi for the three of them to go to McDonald’s, however the girl wanted more money from him to pay for the food and he declined, the inspector added.

The case came to light after the man told a nun about the alleged theft and she reported it to the police.

The frail elderly man was called in to testify and because he cannot stand for too long and has difficulty hearing, he was given a chair near Magistrate Doreen Clarke, who then put the questions from the defence counsel to him.

The man said that once at McDonalds, they walked in and he refused to pay for the food because he felt he had already given the girl enough money.

They walked out and all of a sudden they came up from behind him, put their hands into his pockets, took the money and ran off, he said.

At this point, Dr Fenech told the magistrate that he wanted to ask if the man had ever paid the girl for sexual favours. Magistrate Doreen Clarke disallowed the question because it had nothing to do with the crime of theft that they were dealing with.

The lawyer remarked that it was pretty clear that you don’t give such a young girl €120 for occasionally cleaning the house and said there was more to this episode than met the eye.

The young couple were granted bail against a personal guarantee of €1,000 each and they were also placed under a curfew – they are to be inside the YMCA by 10 p.m. and not to leave before 7 a.m.

YMCA chairman Jean Paul Mifsud told the court that the young man was doing well and had even been offered a job as a waiter. This, of course, would entail working at night and he asked the magistrate if the boy could be allowed to do the job, which was essential to the improvement he was making.

Magistrate Clarke asked for confirmation from his place of work that he was, in fact, going to work so that she could make a change to the bail conditions.

The case continues.