Man charged with stealing officer's mobile phone

Slobodan Pavlovic, 43, from Serbia has been remanded in custody after being charged with stealing a mobile phone belonging to a police officer.

The ill-advised theft allegedly took place on 12 July at 3:15 am at Tigne.

Construction worker Pavlovic, who told the court he was from Belgrade and lived in Bugibba, pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and claimed to have found the device on a bus stop.

Inspector Sheldon told the court that the man had been found after people started to call up the police officer on his mobile phone, only to be answered by the accused.

He was arraigned before magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech by Inspector Colin Sheldon this morning, pleading not guilty to the charges. Lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar asked for bail, pointing out that the man had a clean criminal record.

The court asked whether international checks had been made about the accused’s criminal record, but the prosecution said that this had not been done.

It also emerged during the sitting that the man had no work permit and had been working illegally. In the light of this, the court ordered that further verification be carried out at Identity Malta and JobsPlus.

Noting that the accused had no ties to Malta, bail was refused.