Man who stabbed wife's lover returns to court on theft charges

There was no request for bail this morning as a Valletta resident with a history of criminal activity was charged with attempting to break into cars parked in Floriana early yesterday morning.

Mohamed Mokhtar Mohamed Jamhur, 25, was arraigned by police inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee before magistrate Gabreilla Vella today, charged with two counts of attempted theft, one count of criminal damage, breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence and relapsing.

The inspector told the court how, at around 3:45am yesterday morning, the police had received reports of a man dressed in a grey hoodie who was breaking into a number of vehicles in Triq il-Fosos, Floriana.

The accused was found in the vicinity of the Floriana Health Centre. The two cars were found to have been damaged by forced entry, but nothing had been successfully stolen, she said.

Jamhur, who hails from Libya, is a frequent visitor to the courts of justice. He was last convicted of complicity in theft just last month. On that occasion, the court had extended a probation order he had already been placed under. In November last year, he received a suspended sentence for stabbing his wife's lover, only to return to court, three days later, charged with threatening the man he stabbed.

The man, still wearing the grey hooded tracksuit in which he had been arrested, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Lawyer Victor Bugeja, defence counsel to the accused, asked to be allowed to approach the bench, a measure often employed by lawyers in order to discuss the case privately, but this was refused by the court. “Tell me what you need to tell me from there,” was the magistrate's reply.

Bail was not requested at this stage. Court asked the accused if he had any problems with substance abuse that required treatment.

“Yes, there is abuse of illicit substances,” the defence lawyer said, advising the court that the defence would be building his case along those lines.

The court ordered Jamhur to be remanded in custody, also instructing the director of prisons to provide the accused with all the treatment he required to address his drug addiction.