No bail for drug-addicted pensioner, charged after 37 years of constant law-breaking

Angelus Vella, 65, was arraigned this morning, accused of defrauding the owner of Mike's Service Station, conspiracy in fraudulent gain, breaching bail and relapsing

A pensioner who has been in constant trouble with the law for the past 37 years, has been remanded in custody on charges of theft and fraud, targeting an Qormi service station.

Inspector Roderick Agius arraigned Angelus Vella, 65, from Fgura before magistrate Grazio Mercieca this morning, accusing him of defrauding the owner of Mike’s Service Station out of less than €500 on Wednesday, stealing an amount of fuel worth under €2,329, conspiracy in fraudulent gain, breaching bail and relapsing.

Defence counsel, lawyer Noel Bianco, entered a plea of not guilty and requested bail.

The request for the man’s release was objected to by the prosecution, who pointed out that the man was “untrustworthy.”

“We have a 64 year-old man who has been in trouble with the law since 1980, without a break.”

He was on bail for breaching a court-imposed curfew and a number of other pending cases and was convicted of an offence in 2014, said the inspector.

“Vella would have been given a chance had he wanted to turn his life around, but he told me that he had a drug problem and this leads to crime,” added the prosecutor.

The man was accused of theft from a petrol pump and it was very easy for him to influence witnesses, even by simply going there, he said.

Bianco pointed out that the man only breached bail once and that the court could prohibit him from going to the area around the petrol pump.

The court had before it a 65-year-old drug addict who was also sick, said the lawyer, asking that should bail be refused, the man be held at Mount Carmel Hospital.

The Court turned down the request for bail as the man was untrustworthy and there was a risk of him tampering with evidence. It recommended that the accused be given the necessary medical assistance.