Two men were tracked down by the police after they allegedly raided a Siġġiewi construction site last Monday.

Annise Bejaoui, 29, residing at Hamrun together with his alleged partner in crime Christopher Scerri, 37, from Senglea, were marched to court facing charges of aggravated theft. Mr Benjaoui was separately charged with having breached bail conditions imposed in May 2015.

The two men, both unemployed, pleaded not guilty and sat at the dock following proceedings as their defence lawyers made submissions after requesting bail.

The request brought about strong objections by prosecuting Inspector Roderick Agius who argued that tampering with evidence would be highly probable since there was a civilian witness who had followed the two suspects after their alleged coup and had even put the police on their tracks.

There were other workers at the construction site last Monday who were potential witnesses in the proceedings, the inspector went on, adding that in view of their “rather colourful criminal record”, both men were not trustworthy.

Both had been barely months out of jail and were in the grip of a drug addiction which they seemed to lack the willpower to overcome once and for all, the inspector explained.

“We have to protect society out there. It’s society in general that is the innocent victim of their habit,” Inspector Agius stressed.

In spite of defence lawyers arguing that the primary consideration for the granting of bail was their clients’ guarantee to appear for their court hearings and that their trustworthiness was a secondary consideration, magistrate Audrey Demicoli turned down the request for bail upholding the prosecution’s arguments.

Lawyer George Anton Buttigieg was counsel to Mr Bejaoui.
Lawyer Noel Cutajar was counsel to Mr Scerri.