Pickpocket jailed for 28 months

A court has jailed a self-confessed pickpocket for 28 months.

Andrei Dinica, 47 and Razvan Aurel Stefan, 38, both from Romania, had been charged before magistrate Astrid May Grima by Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna last week, after a long police investigation into the crimes.

Dinica was handed a suspended sentence after admitting to having stolen a woman’s wallet containing €175 and bank cards from a bus passenger on 29 December last year, withdrawing €200 from the victim’s account the same day.

Stefan had been charged with stealing another woman’s wallet on New Year’s Eve. The stolen wallet contained cash and credit cards which were then used to withdraw what was described as a considerable sum of money. He was also accused of misuse of passcodes and with committing a string of similar thefts in different localities.

After putting off the latter thief’s case for sentencing, this morning the magistrate jailed Stefan for 28 months. His lawyer says he will be filing an appeal.

Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna prosecuted. Lawyer Lennox Vella was defence counsel to both accused.