Violent pickpocket in tears as court urges him to reform

24-year-old Libyan warned by magistrate to stop relapsing and to learn from prison sentence

A court’s concerned admonition seemed to move a pickpocket to tears as he was jailed for two years on Wednesday.

Alsagheer Mohamed Rajab Ali, 24, from Libya, appeared before magistrate Charmaine Galea charged in connection with a pickpocketing attempt in which a British tourist was injured.

British tourist and brother of the victim, Tony Baker, said that he had gone to Bugibba with his mother and sisters and that they were sitting on a public bench waiting for a taxi when the accused decided to sit down on the bench beside his sister.

“He started hugging and touching her, despite her protests,” Baker said. “The taxi arrived at that moment and the group was about to get in, when the accused was spotted trying to help himself to the contents of the girl’s handbag.”

“He hugged her again from behind and I saw him reaching into her bag. We chased him up the street and he fell over – I think he was drunk – and hit his head on a car.”

Baker’s eldest sister caught up to Ali first and was injured in the ensuing scuffle.

“He punched my sister in the face and ran off...I managed to get him at a crossroads … grabbed his coat and my sister’s purse fell out,” Baker said. “My other sister and I put him on the floor until the police arrived; he was spitting and punching all the while.”

Prosecuting police inspector Maurice Curmi exhibited a mobile phone, wallet and several sets of car keys, recovered from the accused, together with Sophie Baker’s medical certificate.

Ali pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment. “They will decrease,” the court said of the months behind bars, as the disconsolate Libyan wiped away tears.

“You can’t carry on like this,” the magistrate admonished him. “This is the third time you’re here and you risk coming to a sticky end. Prison is there to teach you, not to have you re-offend the moment you are released.”

Lawyer Francienne Abela was legal aid.