Man sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment for stealing ladder and breaching bail conditions

A man was sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment for stealing a ladder and simultaneously breaching bail conditions.

The accused, 38-year-old Michael Spiteri from Zabbar, admitted that he committed the theft in order to obtain money to fuel his drug addiction.

The man was accused of stealing a ladder that was tied on top of a van on 30 October 2024 between 3am and 6am. He was also accused of breaching bail conditions imposed on him in a previous case, and recidivism.

He immediately admitted to the charges brought against him in court and admitted to the fact that he had committed the theft in order to get money for drugs.

The Court, presided by Magistrate Leonard Caruana, noted whilst this was not the accused’s first brush with the law and that an effective sentence of imprisonment would be ideal in such circumstances, it simultaneously stated that said the sentence should remain close to the minimum, and this even in view of the fact that the theft was committed owing to the accused’s drug problem.

The Court thus sentenced Spiteri to a 19-month effective prison sentence and ordered him to follow a drug rehabilitation program whilst imprisoned. Spiteri was also ordered to pay €185 to the owner of the ladder, with a further €50 to be confiscated from a personal guarantee he had been bound to in a separate case.