A man with a 20-year long history of theft has again landed behind bars pending a pre-sentencing report, merely three months after leaving jail after admitting to raiding parked vehicles in Valletta.

Ivan Galea, a 43-year old unemployed Valletta resident, known as Nikita, was taken to court on Friday morning where he pleaded guilty to breaking into two cars on Wednesday, making off with mobile phones, cash and wallets.

Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna explained how a search for the suspect kicked off following an anonymous tip-off.

The search led to the arrest of the man who was found still carrying a backpack inside which was one of the stolen wallets whose owner had left it inside the car, parked close to St Elmo, while attending his pre-wedding photo shoot. The photographer was also robbed of his mobile phone, the court was told.

A request for bail pending the drawing up of the pre-sentencing report brought strong objections by the prosecution on grounds that the accused, besides having a drug problem, had been a repeat offender since 1998.

“If he is released on bail the situation would be less under control,” Inspector Scicluna argued, pointing out that the accused had last been released from prison barely three months ago.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli denied bail since the accused failed to satisfy the guarantees required at law. While ordering a pre-sentencing report, the court issued a temporary supervision order to help the accused overcome his drug problems.

“You clearly have a dependency. You must work on it. How you deal with this will affect your sentence. It all depends on you if you choose to go on in this manner,” the magistrate warned, as the man’s elderly mother looked on, visibly close to tears.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Yanika Vidal were defence counsel.