Construction worker's tip-off leads to arrest of phone thief

A man has been remanded in custody after allegedly being spotted stealing a mobile phone from a parked car.

Senior Police Inspector Nikolai Sant accused Nika Bazuashvili, 21, from Georgia of having stolen an iPhone from inside a Mercedes parked in St Julian's on Monday morning.

Sant explained how a construction worker on a scaffold had told the police that he had observed the accused opening an unlocked, parked Mercedes inside which the mobile phone had been left on the seat. The worker had tried to disrupt the accused but had failed to stop him. The next day the worker had once again spotted the accused, who was still wearing the same clothes, and informed the police.

This afternoon before magistrate Ian Farrugia, Bazuashvili was charged with theft aggravated by value and the nature of the item stolen. Aided by a translator, Bazuashvili pleaded not guilty to the charge.

His lawyer, Victor Bugeja, requested bail, but Inspector Sant objected to the man’s release, due to the fact that the accused had no fixed address. Bugeja explained that a friend of the man had accepted to offer him accommodation pending the criminal proceedings. “Furthermore, there is no fear of him approaching witnesses as the witness and the accused do not know each other,” said the lawyer.

Bugeja objected to what he said was the man being effectively given a Hobson’s choice of either remaining in custody for something he denied doing or being deported if he lied and said that he was guilty.

The court turned down the request for bail.