An unemployed man was this afternoon denied bail after pleading not guilty to a string of thefts from petrol stations over the past weeks. 

Dennis Cremona, 42, from Marsa, was charged with having stolen amounts of cash, on three separate occasions, from a service station in Attard. The station was allegedly targeted on July 4, July 17 and again yesterday at around 3.30am.

Another petrol station in Għaxaq was also allegedly robbed, with Mr Cremona allegedly making off with more cash during the night between July 6 and 7. The full amount of cash taken in all four robberies was not disclosed in open court.

Mr Cremona was further charged with having caused voluntary damage to third party property in the course of the aggravated thefts as well as with being a relapser.

Lawyer Joseph Brincat, asssisting the accused, requested bail pointing out that his client cared for his elderly mother, who was currently also facing accommodation problems. The woman had recently been thrown out of her home by her landlord, the court heard. 

Moreover, the defence stressed that the presumption of innocence always favoured the accused. In this case, although the man had a tainted criminal record, this same record served as proof that he had always appeared in court to face proceedings in his regard.

However, the prosecution strongly objected to these arguments pointing out that investigations were still ongoing and there were suspicions possibly linking the accused to other thefts. Moreover, civilian witnesses were still to testify, the prosecution stressed.

The court, presided over by magistrate Josette Demicoli, taking note of the submissions by both parties, denied bail citing as reasons the serious nature of the offences and the fact that the accused failed to satisfy the necessary requisites.

Inspector Elton Taliana prosecuted. Lawyer Joseph Brincat was defence counsel.