Carjacker remanded in custody

A man has been remanded in custody after being accused by the police of carjacking a cab in Msida.

Mahmoud Moghrabi, a 33-year-old Tunisian construction worker, denied charges of aggravated theft, holding the cab driver against his will, carrying a weapon during the commission of a crime and stealing number plates from a third-party vehicle.

Moghrabi was also charged with breaching previously imposed bail conditions, committing a crime while under a suspended sentence and recidivism.

Inspector Lydon Zammit, prosecuting together with Inspector Jonathan Ransley, told the duty magistrate that on 13 May at around 9pm, the police had received a report from a cab driver, claiming that a passenger had placed a gun to his head and demanded money, before pushing him out of the car and driving off.

The police managed to track down the stolen car in the space of half an hour, finding Moghrabi in the process of switching its number plates with a set of number plates that he had apparently just stolen from a vehicle which had been parked in the vicinity.

After being taken into custody, the defendant was taken to Mount Carmel Hospital. He was arraigned shortly after being discharged.

Defence lawyers Mario and Nicholas Mifsud did not request bail at this stage.