A penknife and pepper spray found in the possession of a suspected thief landed the man in court today, where he was condemned to a suspended jail term and fined €58.

Trajan Bodganovski's plea that he was carrying the knife and spray for self-defence after he was assaulted a few days ago did not wash with the court, with magistrate Marseanne Farrugia saying the accused was "not credible".

‘God forbid should everybody carry around penknives and pepper spray as a precaution," she added. 

28-year-old Mr Bogdanovski, a Macedonian national who for the past two months has been living with his brother in Naxxar, was arrested in the early hours of this morning and charged with having been in possession of the weapon and the pepper spray.

Prosecuting inspector Trevor Micallef explained in court how the accused had been captured on CCTV footage taken from a camera at a Swieqi residence allegedly behaving in a suspicious manner in the area.

Police alerted to the site, came upon Mr Bodganovski who was found to be carrying the penknife and the pepper spray. Although police did not have sufficient evidence to arraign the man over charges of attempted theft, they pressed charges related to the unlicensed possession of the weapon and the prohibited substance.

The court declared the man guilty and condemned him to a jail term of two years suspended for four years and a fine of €58.

Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia was defence counsel.