A magistrate has ordered that a Serbian woman be expelled from Malta after she admitted to lying about her real identity in an attempt to remain on the island.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke heard 23-year-old Bojana Tonic, a Serbian national living in Qrendi, plead guilty to making a false declaration to the police at the airport on February 14.

Principal Immigration Officer police inspector Frankie Sammut told the court that she lied about the information requested because she wanted to remain in Malta.

In court, the woman burst into tears and her lawyer, Giannella de Marco explained that the woman had a clean police conduct, had admitted at the earliest possible stage and had cooperated fully with the police when questioned.

“She did what she did because she wanted to stay here. The fact that she’s going to be sent away is already causing her anguish.”

Magistrate Doreen Clarke handed down a three-year suspended sentence and ordered that she be removed from the island with immediate effect.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.