Valletta beggar sentenced to 10 days in prison

A homeless beggar has been jailed for ten days for begging for alms in Valletta.

Scruffily dressed and sporting an unkept mop of white hair and what looked like several weeks of stubble, 64-year-old Romanian Ilie Dinu appeared before magistrate Josette Demicoli this morning, accused of living an idle and vagrant life and soliciting alms from the public.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee told the court that Dinu had been arrested on 14 August after police found the man begging near the Palace in Valletta.

The Court appointed lawyer as Noel Cutajar as legal aid because the man lacked the financial means to engage a lawyer himself.

After a lengthy discussion with the man's counsel and the inspector, the man pleaded guilty.

He was condemned to 10 days in detention.