Electric bicycle thief handed suspended sentence, will be deported after overstaying visa

Accused pleads guilty to aggravated theft and is handed 13-month jail sentence suspended for two years together with deportation order

The stolen electric bike had a value of €2,500 (Stock photo)
The stolen electric bike had a value of €2,500 (Stock photo)

A man who admitted to stealing an local councillor’s electric bicycle from outside the council offices in Zebbug has been handed a suspended sentence and will be deported after it was found that he had overstayed his visa.

Daniel Appau, a 30-year-old unemployed Ghanaian national, was arraigned earlier today after the €2,500 bicycle was stolen in broad daylight after it was parked outside the council’s offices in Frans Sammut Street, in Zebbug.

Appau, who lived opposite the offices was later confronted by the owner of the bike and the stolen bicycle was recovered within an hour or so of the theft, the court heard.

The accused pleaded guilty to theft aggravated by value of the object stolen.

After confirming his guilty plea, the man was handed a 13-month jail term suspended for two years, the court having been told that the accused had a clean criminal record and had cooperated with the police, as well as that the bicycle had been returned to its rightful owner a short time later.

In addition to this, however, the prosecution also informed the magistrate that since the accused had been found to have overstayed his travel permit, he would be sent back to Italy from where he had travelled to Malta.

Lawyer George Anton Buttigieg was defence counsel.