Man denies stealing tablet computers from restaurants

A recovering heroin addict has been remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to having stolen two tablet computers from restaurants.

Kitchen hand Lydon Gravina, a 32-year-old father of two from Floriana, denied stealing the two iPads from restaurants in Bugibba and Tigne during his arraignment before magistrate Ian Farrugia this morning.

Inspector Christina Delia, prosecuting, together with Inspector Colin Sheldon, said that the police had investigated reports about the thefts and identified the accused from CCTV footage at the establishments in question. Gravina was taken into custody after an arrest warrant was issued.

Gravina’s lawyer, Matthew Xuereb, requested bail, telling the court that his client was on methadone at Caritas and had just started a new job. “I’m clean, Mr Magistrate!” said the accused, out of turn.

The man had made substantial progress in overcoming his drug addiction and has shared custody of two children, aged 11 and 5, the court was told, always paying his maintenance payments. Their mother doesn’t work, added the lawyer.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia, after deliberating on the request for some time, said he wasn’t convinced of the trustworthiness of the accused and denied bail at this stage of proceedings.

“I’m going to speak to you plainly,” said the magistrate. “It’s not an easy decision for me to take, but get it in your head that my decision is guided by two principles which I hold dear; one, justice and two, because I want the best for you. You will understand better in future. In such cases, if I were to give bail today, there would be three more cases with you in the next month. You must understand and reflect that the time to change your path is now.

“Either you’re going to continue with criminality and rebelling against authority or seek help,” said the magistrate. “Today, I saved you a lot of prison time.”

The accused smiled and gave the court a thumbs-up sign as he was led away.