No bail for vagabond Ethiopian charged with stealing suitcase from hotel room

A homeless Ethiopian man has been remanded in custody after a defiant, albeit doomed, attempt at conducting his own defence against charges of theft.

27-year-old Kiflom Habtoum made quite the entrance in magistrate Joseph Mifsud's courtroom this morning, as he strode into the court, still wearing his black fedora, which he was immediately ordered to remove.

“I used to live in the street,” Habtoum said when asked for his address, pointing to a small item of hand luggage exhibited in court.

“I am from Ethiopia, but my bloodline is from Israel,” announced the accused with what could only be described as pride. Asked whether he had been to Israel by magistrate Mifsud – who had travelled to and reported extensively from Israel and Palestine, the Ethiopian dandy clarified that he had never been to Israel, “but was trying to go there.”

Inspector Matthew Spagnol charged Habtoum with stealing a pilot's luggage bag, containing a laptop and other electronic devices from a hotel room at Le Meridien in St Julian's. He also accused the man of vagrancy and vagabondage.

The accused refused the court's offer to appoint a legal aid lawyer. “I don't need any lawyer. I have a lawyer - he's in Israel. I don't need any lawyer or any Maltese or different person,” Habtoum said.

Inspector Spagnol informed the court that the accused had also refused to speak to a lawyer when he had been arrested.

The accused pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated theft. Although no request for bail was made, the man objected loudly to not being allowed to take back the suitcase and to himself being taken to prison.

“Its not justice, taking people of the street and charging people,” he protested.