Suspected thief arrested on scaffold next to church has history of stealing from churches, court told

A man with a history of robbing churches, who was discovered by police on top of scaffolding on the Church of the Holy Trinity in Marsa has denied trying to break in.

Hassam Anmgad Anwar Aly Elnily, a 26-year-old manual labourer, was charged with attempted theft and criminal damage before magistrate Abigail Critien on Friday. 

Inspector Sarah Kathleen Zerafa told the court that the Marsa police station had received a report about bangs and sounds of breaking glass coming from the church at around midnight on Wednesday 29 November.

Officers dispatched to the scene spotted Elnily on scaffolding, some 3 storeys up. The scaffolding was in place due to ongoing restoration works at the church, she said.

Elnily was ordered to come down off the scaffolding, after which he was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft.

Elnily, who said today that he was homeless, had told the police that he would sleep on the scaffolding and had struck the window with his leg by mistake. He insisted that he was only sleeping there, explaining that he had been working on the restoration of the church for a few days, doing plastering works. 

But inspector Zerafa told the magistrate that the defendant couldn't have kicked the window by accident, because the large window pane had been struck in the middle.

His claim to have been working there did not stand up to scrutiny either, the court was told, because the police had also spoken to the contractors engaged to carry out the works and had been informed that so far the only works which had been carried out was the construction of the scaffolding. No plastering had been done.

Police found the defendant’s change of clothes and identification documents in a bag hidden inside a public latrine not far from the church. “If you sleep somewhere, you’d want to keep your belongings close,” pointed out the inspector.

The court, after having heard the inspector’s explanation of what had led to Elnily’s arrest and her replies to the defence’s questions, declared the arrest to be valid and legally justified.

The defendant pleaded not guilty. Legal aid lawyer Martin Fenech requested bail, explaining that no evidence indicating an attempted theft had been mentioned. 

Although he currently had no fixed address, Elnily was in the process of being admitted to a homeless shelter, added the lawyer.

Lawyer Tilden Tabone, prosecuting on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General objected to bail. “He doesn’t have a fixed address right now, even though he might in future. He was also convicted for theft in the past and there is a risk of him reoffending.”

Inspector Zerafa added that Elnily had several previous convictions for stealing from churches.

The court, after hearing the parties’ submissions on bail, rejected the request given the absence of a fixed address and remanded Elnily in custody.