Pregnant woman steals wallet, jailed for 16 months

A pregnant 34-year-old Bulgarian woman broke down in tears in court today after she was jailed for stealing a wallet from a bus driver.

The accused, Parashkeva Ivanova, admitted to stealing the wallet from a bus driver on board the number 13 route bus on Thursday. The wallet contained €300.

In its submissions, the prosecution, led by Police Inspector Lara Butters, told Magistrate Doreen Clarke that foreigners were coming to Malta with the express purpose of stealing, and that the lenient sentences by the court were not serving as a deterrent.

“The police receives several reports of thefts, especially in the summer months. It seems that foreign pickpockets who come to Malta do so without any luggage. They stay here till they get caught, they get a suspended sentence and then go back to their country,” the inspector said.

As a result, the prosecution argued that pickpockets should not be given a suspended sentence, but rather an effective jail term.

On its part, the defence counsel, led by legal aid lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar, said the Court should not make the accused pay for all the other pickpocketing cases, but it should analyse the case on an individual basis.

The lawyer also argued that the accused, Parashkeva Ivanova, 34, has three more children , was living in poverty and got caught up in the circumstances.

Notwithstanding the defence's arguments, the Court upheld the prosecution's submissions and jailed the woman for 16 months.