Romanian conditionally discharged for begging

A 57-year-old homeless Romanian, Petrica Balteanu, received a conditional discharge this afternoon after he was arraigned on charges of living a vagrant life and begging for alms. 

He had been arrested in Sliema yesterday. Balteanu admitted the charges. 

Inspector Jason Paul Sultana, prosecuting, told the court that he had charged several people with begging over the past weeks, and that this seemed to be organised. “When we managed to prosecute two beggars, two more arrived.”

The accused looked exhausted, wiping his eyes and face as Magistrate Josette Demicoli explained the import of this sentence to him. “If you stay in Malta and commit another crime in the period of one year, you will be punished for both that crime and this," she warned.

Simon Micallef Stafrace was legal aid.