Jail term and suspended sentence for handbag thieves

A court of magistrates has jailed one man and handed another a suspended sentence after they admitted to a string of handbag thefts in Gzira and Qormi between 14 and 21 October this year.

During the course of proceedings, the two had changed their plea from not guilty to guilty.

Sandro Mifsud, 41, from St. Paul’s Bay was jailed for a total of 24 months after he pleaded guilty to five charges of aggravated theft, relapsing, breaching a probation order and breaching bail conditions.

Mifsud’s accomplice, 33-year-old Qormi resident Stephen Stellini, was handed a 24-month sentence suspended for four years, a supervision order for three years as well as a treatment order after he admitted to substance abuse problems. Stellini will undergo a compulsory drug rehabilitation programme.

The pair were charged with four counts of theft, three of which were aggravated by the time of commission and relapsing. Mifsud alone was further charged with committing an offence liable to imprisonment during the operative period of a probation order and of breaching bail conditions.

The court noted that in spite of several convictions and custodial sentences, Mifsud has not abandoned his “life of crime” and ordered he serve his sentence.