Man, 27, admits to trashing apartment belonging to his 15-year-old girlfriend's mother

A 27-year-old man from Gżira has admitted to going on a destructive rampage inside a flat where he lived with his underage girlfriend and her mother.

Inspector Audrey Micallef arraigned 27-year-old John Junior Pace from Gżira under arrest before magistrate Abigail Critien, accusing him of voluntarily causing damage to a number of items, including furniture, inside the flat where he lived together with his girlfriend and her mother. 

He was also charged with damaging a mobile phone belonging to his 15-year-old girlfriend, as well as attacking, threatening and insulting her. Further charges of insulting or threatening two police officers and disobeying their orders were also filed, together with still more charges regarding the commission of a breach of the peace, the use of obscene language in public while drunk, and recidivism. 

Pace, who told the court that he worked as a delivery driver, pleaded guilty to the charges. 

The court upheld a request from defence counsel, lawyer Charles Mercieca, for a pre-sentencing report to be drawn up and released the defendant on bail against a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €1,500. 

The court also ordered the man to sign a bail book once a week and observe a curfew. 

Protection orders were also issued in favour of the two women.

When asked by the court clerk to state his address, for bail purposes, Pace told the court that he had lost his ID card and hadn’t held a passport for 10 years. 

The magistrate asked for his driving licence instead, to which the defendant replied that he didn’t have one, either. This prompted the court to ask how he could work as a delivery driver without a driving licence. His lawyer stepped in at that point, telling the court that Pace “would not actually be behind the wheel” of the van, but would help with paperwork during deliveries.

The case was adjourned to June for sentencing.

This was not Pace's first brush with the law. He had been sentenced to three-years on probation for the burglary of his elderly neighbour's residence in 2015, less than a year after he was charged with firing an air rife into the open window of the Gzira Health Centre.