Teenage tourists admit to shoplifting sportswear

Four Italian teenagers on a visit to Malta appeared in court after they were arrested for shoplifting designer sportswear items yesterday.

Antonio Montuori, 19, Simone Barbaro, 18, Leonardo Tedesco, 18 and a 17-year-old appeared in court this morning, charged with aggravated theft from a sportswear store in Birkirkara.

Inspector Elton Taliana told the court that the youths, who are understood to be on holiday from their hometown of Gela, sharing the same hotel room in Bugibba, had aroused the suspicion of shop staff, who called the police after noticing the youths acting strangely around the outlet’s changing rooms.

Officers had stopped the teens in the vicinity of the store, finding the stolen clothes in some nearby bushes. Although no precise value of the stolen property was given, the total value of the pilfered items of designer sportswear is understood to be under €2,300.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino, appointed as legal aid to the accused, entered a guilty plea to the charge on behalf of the four.

The court held that the punishment for Montuori, Barbaro and Tedesco should be a suspended sentence in its minimum, handing them an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 30 months. The 17-year-old was conditionally discharged for three years.