Homeless vagrant jailed for hotel theft

A homeless man has been jailed for five months after a court found him guilty of stealing a suitcase from a hotel in St Julian's.

Kiflom Habtoum, who comes from Ethiopia, had been charged with pilfering a pilot's suitcase from the Le Meridien Hotel last October, in one of the year's more memorable arraignments.

Habtoum, who lives on the streets, was found guilty on his own admission of having stolen the suitcase.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke was told how, on October 12, 2016 at around 10:30pm, Habtoum had been captured on CCTV as he dragged the grey suitcase, containing a Lenovo laptop owned by budget airline Easyjet Ltd, electronic equipment and items of designer clothing, along the corridor outside the pilot's room, to the lift.

The court observed that two days before the crime took place, the accused had been ordered off the hotel premises by security staff after he was seen acting suspiciously. Viewing the CCTV footage, the hotel's head of security had recognised Habtoum as the person who had previously been turned away.

The Ethiopian had been arrested in Sliema a day later, after he was spotted by a hotel employee who happened to be driving through Sliema.

While being questioned Habtoum had told police that he had indeed taken the items but insisted that they belonged to his Jamaican friend “David” who he said was also a guest at the hotel. Habtoum had taken police officers to the place where he slept and had stored all the stolen items.

In view of his admission, the court found him guilty of aggravated theft, relapsing and leading an idle and vagrant life and condemned him to five months imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay the Court Registrar the sum of €1,001 within one month.

Inspector Matthew Spagnol prosecuted.