No bail for men caught stealing tools from tunnel beneath Parliament

The two men who were arrested on Sunday in a Valletta tunnel leading to parliament have been denied bail.

Eman Zammit and Clayton Fava, both from Zabbar and both unemployed, were arrested yesterday in the act of stealing tools and building materials from a service tunnel, linking the new parliament building to the area known as “Yellow Garage.”

They were charged with attempted theft, trespassing in a restricted area and relapsing.

The pair’s legal aid lawyer Joseph Ellis told Magistrate Audrey Demicoli that the incident had been blown out of all proportion and “made to look like a Guy Fawkes plot,” referring to the infamous conspiracy to blow up the British House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder in 1605.

Ellis argued that the charges were, in fact, only of attempting to steal government property and not of stealing from parliament. He explained that his clients had been caught out in the rain and walked into the Yellow Garage entrance. Bail would not affect the conducting of the prosecution, he said, entering a plea of not guilty on behalf of the men.

But Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna also pointed out that the two men could not be trusted, as indicated by their long criminal record sheet . “They have made a habit of theft,” he said.

Magistrate Demicoli ordered the men be remanded in custody.