Razorblade shoplifter gets jail time

A shoplifter has ended up in prison for eight months after stealing a razor blade.

30-year-old Evgeniy Petrov from Bulgaria pleaded guilty to stealing the blade from a Qormi supermarket. He also admitted to living a vagrant and idle life and breaching a suspended sentence.

He protested that he should not be sent to prison because the only thing he took was a razor blade worth €7 and which he had paid for after being caught.

But the court thought otherwise. Petrov had committed the crime during the effective period of a suspended sentence, which was thereby rendered active.

Magistrate Monica Vella sentenced him to two months jail for the theft, added to the previously suspended six-month sentence, making a total of eight months.

Lawyer Noel Bartolo was legal aid.

Inspector Roderick Agius prosecuted.