A teenager was remanded in custody on Wednesday after pleading guilty to holding a shop assistant at knifepoint and making off with €200 in cash. 

The 17-year-old, whose name cannot be published by court order since he is still a minor, admitted to committing the armed robbery in Cospicua and insisted on his admission even when Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras warned him that he may be going to jail for the offence.

He was also charged with committing the crime during the operative term of a probation order as well as to breaching the conditions of a previous release. 

The teenager was arrested late on Tuesday by officers from the major crimes unit and district police, a day after the theft was reported. 

The court heard how the youth turned up at the police station with his mother and told the police that he was the one who had robbed a shop on Triq l-Oratorju at knifepoint after threatening a 36-year-old shop assistant with the weapon.

Magistrate Galea Sciberras ordered that a pre-sentencing report be compiled by his probation officer and put off the case to January. 

Police Inspectors Lydon Zammit, Stephen Gulia and Darren Buhagiar prosecuted. Lawyer Josette Sultana was defence counsel.