Hotel TV theft earns man 13 month stretch in prison

The court ordered that the accused be imprisoned for 13 months – the minimum punishment for the charges in his circumstances – after his legal aid pointed out that the man had turned himself in voluntarily and had cooperated with the police

The accused, a casual worker with previous convictions for cannabis possession, pleaded guilty and the court ordered he be imprisoned for 13 months
The accused, a casual worker with previous convictions for cannabis possession, pleaded guilty and the court ordered he be imprisoned for 13 months

A court has jailed a man for 13 months after he admitted to stealing a TV from a Paceville hotel.

In a sitting before duty magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras this morning, inspector Trevor Micallef told the court how 24-year-old refugee Hashim El Amir from Libya, had turned himself in after being placed on the police's wanted list.

El Amir, who told the court that he lived in Paceville, was accused of the aggravated theft of one television set and the attempted aggravated theft of another TV, both from the St George's Park Hotel.

The accused, a casual worker with previous convictions for cannabis possession, pleaded guilty.

He had been jailed for 18 months in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to trafficking ecstasy and cocaine and to the possession of ecstasy and cannabis in circumstances denoting it was not for his personal use.

Lawyer Noel Bartolo, appointed as legal aid to the defendant, asked for a punishment close to the minimum in view of the fact that the man had turned himself in voluntarily and had cooperated with the police.

The court ordered that El Amir be imprisoned for 13 months – the minimum punishment for the charges in his circumstances.