Heroin addicts stole car ‘to be sent to rehab’

A couple with a serious heroin problem have been remanded in custody after a court heard them claim to have stolen a car in the hope of getting arrested and placed in a drug rehabilitation programme.

Inspector Josric Mifsud charged 36 year-old Allan Caruana and 33 year-old Ruth Borda from Zejtun with multiple charges of aggravated theft. The court heard how, at around midday on Wednesday, the couple had stolen a Peugeot 406 from Marsascala in their desperate attempt to receive treatment. 

Several items of electronics and photography equipment had been inside the car at the time, the court was told. Although the method used to commit the vehicle theft was not described in court, both the car and its contents are understood to have been left undamaged.


At the time of their arrest, the pair had been very sick with withdrawal symptoms, Inspector Mifsud told magistrate Gabriella Vella.

“They had told the police that they had committed the crimes to get arrested and placed in a drug rehabilitation programme,” said the inspector.

“The police would be happy to see this happen, irrespective of whether before, after, or during their stay in prison.”

The court pointed out to the accused that the charges they faced would definitely carry with them a prison sentence, in spite of Borda's protestations that she had not caused any damage, that the stolen items had all been returned and that she had started taking methadone.

Legal aid Simon Micallef Stafrace requested bail. “The mistakes they made are fixable. If they are given bail and start a program, the interests of justice would be safeguarded,” the lawyer submitted, adding that he believed that a prison sentence would be counterproductive.

But the court, after weighing up the charges, the circumstances of the case and the accused’s drug dependency, held the request for bail could not be upheld at this stage.

It, however, made a recommendation, asking the director of prisons to make the necessary arrangements to begin the accused on drug rehab treatment as soon as possible.