Thief remanded in custody for stealing €5,000 worth of perfume, body lotion

A double fault of sorts has landed 33-year-old Bjorn Borg from Senglea in trouble with the law.

A handcuffed Borg appeared in court this morning, charged with stealing several perfume bottles worth €5,169 from a shop at the Malta International Airport in December 2016, and bottles of body lotion from a convenience store in Naxxar on 20 March this year.

Inspector Silvio Magro, prosecuting, exhibited CDs and USB sticks, thought to contain CCTV footage of the thefts.

Borg's legal aid defence lawyer, Chirstopher Chircop, after approaching the bench, entered a guilty plea to the charges of aggravated theft. The defence requested bail.

Inspector Magro objected, saying that the accused was not trustworthy, had no fixed address and that the police had a hard time tracing him.

Chircop argued that the accused was trustworthy, pointing out that the charges dated back to December. “The accused had every opportunity to tamper with the evidence and he hadn't.”

Bail was denied, however, with the court ruling that the defendant did not satisfy the legal requirements.

The court announced that it would be awaiting a pre-sentencing report before passing sentence.