Barman remanded in custody on charges of complicity in theft

A 30-year-old French national has been remanded in custody after he was accused of theft and driving without insurance.

Salah M’Raoui, a barman from Paris, appeared under arrest in magistrate Joseph Mifsud’s courtroom on charges of complicity in the aggravated theft of property belonging to a UK resident and driving a car which was not covered by an insurance policy on 20 July.

Sources explained to the MaltaToday that the stolen items included a laptop, an iPad and two suitcases of belongings. During the course of their investigations, the police had noticed that the accused was also using a false identiy and it is understood that this charge will be added to the accusations once the case is assigned to a magistrate.

M’Raoui denied the charges. Lawyer Francine Abela requested bail on behalf of the accused.

Police inspector Silvio Magro objected to the request, telling the court that the man had been released on police bail and had changed his address without informing the authorities no less than three times in the space of one week.

The inspector said the man had also caused a disturbance at police headquarters, although he was not charged in connection with this. The inspector said that despite doing his utmost to treat the man fairly, in return, M’Raoui had accused him of being racist and attempted to cajole officers into beating him up.

The defendant protested loudly, shouting that the inspector was lying, but bail was denied nonetheless.