Suspended sentences for misuse of travel documents

Two men have been handed suspended sentences after they pleaded guilty to charges relating to travel documents. 

Magistrate Ian Farrugia heard Inspector Victor Aquilina charge 36 year-old Atman Taoutaou, from Morocco, with knowingly making use of counterfeit documents and making a false declaration to a public authority. 

In a separate sitting, Inspector Aquilina also charged Gambian Dawda Sabally, aged 27, with using a travel document belonging to someone else. He had been arrested whilst attempting to leave to Italy, after he was found to be using a genuine Italian travel document in the name of Kande Mouhamed. It is understood that Sabally explained that he had done so because his own permesso di soggiorno had expired. 

Lawyer Martin Fenech, appearing for both men, entered a guilty plea and argued in favour of a suspended sentence. 

In both cases, the court handed down six-month prison sentences, suspended for two years. As his sentence was read out, Sabally could be seen wiping tears from his eyes, prompting the magistrate to clarify that the man was “not going to prison. Today you go back home, but you have to behave.”