Man who soured couple's pre-wedding photoshoot denied bail

A 43-year-old man from Valletta has been remanded in custody after pleading guilty to stealing a number of items from cars parked near Fort St. Elmo.

Ivan Galea was arraigned before magistrate Josette Demicoli this morning. Police Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna charged Galea with breaking into two cars and stealing mobile phones, cash and wallets from inside them on May 9.

Inspector Scicluna explained to the court how the police had received an anonymous tip off that “il-Giza,” as Galea is known, had just stolen some items from inside vehicles. Galea was arrested while still carrying a backpack containing a wallet belonging to one victim, who had parked under St. Elmo to attend his pre-wedding photoshoot. The photographer’s mobile phone was also stolen, he said.

The accused, who told the court he was unemployed, pleaded guilty as charged.

Defence counsel, lawyers Franco Debono and Yanika Vidal, requested bail until a pre-sentencing report could be drawn up.

The prosecution objected to bail, however. The man was untrustworthy, had a long history of theft since 1998 and had been reoffending after being released from prison, as well as being a drug addict, explained the inspector. “If he is released on bail the situation would be less contained,” he said, pointing out that the accused had last been released from prison only 3 months ago.

Magistrate Demicoli upheld the request for a presentencing report but denied bail as the man didn’t satisfy the guarantees required at law. A temporary supervision order was imposed to help him overcome his drug problems.

“You clearly have a dependency,” said the court, as the man’s elderly mother fought back tears in the public gallery. “You must work on it. How you deal with this will affect your sentence. It all depends on you if you want to continue to live your life like this.”