Bulgarian beggars conditionally discharged

Two Bulgarian women, charged with vagrancy after they were arrested while soliciting alms in Tower Road and Tigne Point Sliema, were conditionally discharged after a court heard how they were only trying to raise money to go back home.

Elena Varbanova and Paska Stancheva were arraigned before Magistrate Anthony Vella by Inspector Jason Francis Sultana on charges of vagrancy and harassing passers-by by begging in the street. 

Legal aid lawyer Anthony Cutajar explained that the women had come to Malta as they had been promised jobs, but could not find the person who had promised the jobs to them after they arrived on the island.

The lawyer told the court that they had used all their money to pay for their accommodation and needed funds to book a flight back to Bulgaria.

The magistrate conditionally discharged the women for one month.