A court hearing about a €30 theft from a Marsascala pizzeria has led to police investigating another pizzeria in Żabbar for breaking employment law. 

Stojan Zubic, 40, living in Marsascala on a three-month stay in Malta, stands accused of breaking into the Marsascala restaurant at 3am on Tuesday morning. 

He was identified after the restaurant uploaded footage of the theft to social media, prompting locals to contact police. 

Mr Zubic has however denied the charges, telling inspectors he had a habit of waking up halfway through the night and going for a walk but had committed “no crime”. 

An inspector told the court on Wednesday that he had refused to allow officers to take his fingerprints. 

While testifying, Mr Zubic told the court that he had been working at a pizzeria in Żabbar for around two weeks and was still waiting for a work visa after handing over copies of his personal documents to his employer. 

That prompted magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech to order police to investigate his employer for a breach of employment law. 

“We’re talking about €30. Depriving someone of his personal liberty for €30….” argued defence counsel Benjamin Valenzia, adding that the “clear footage” allegedly held by the police, could not be tampered with. 

However, the court denied bail, saying the man had no ties to Malta and seemed to have no trouble breaking employment law. 

The man was thus remanded in custody.