A 33-year-old man was denied bail after being accused of stealing from a construction site on Friday.
Kersten Camilleri, who is from Valletta, was accused of stealing an assortment of tools from a Żebbuġ construction site. The tools stolen did not exceed €2,329.37 in value. He was also charged with reaching bail conditions imposed on him in three separate cases. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police Inspector Roderick Agius told the court that the theft had been reported on November 26 and following an investigation, police were able to acquire CCTV footage that showed Camilleri and an accomplice carrying out the theft. The car, which the two men used, was also visible in CCTV footage, the license plate clearly visible.
After requesting an arrest warrant, police were able to apprehend Camilleri while he was driving the vehicle identified in the footage.
The prosecution objected to a request for bail, saying that the investigation was still ongoing. Agius said that while the police had successfully identified the accomplice, he was currently receiving treatment at Mount Carmel Hospital and has not yet been questioned. As such, there was a real risk of tampering with evidence.
Defence lawyer Marion Camilleri said that the accused had a drug problem and was currently on a waiting list to enter a rehabilitation program at the end of January.
However, if he is not granted bail, he would be automatically bumped from the list as it would make him ineligible, forcing him to start from scratch should he eventually reapply to join the programme.
The prosecution rebutted that, while in theory it had no issue releasing Camilleri from custody if attending a residential rehabilitation program is an imposed condition, in practice, Camilleri’s attendance was not yet formally confirmed nor was there a fixed date for him to enter the program.
A tentative date at the end of January is more than a month and a half away, Agius said, and the defence did not believe that Camilleri is otherwise capable of satisfying the conditions required for bail.
Magistrate Victor George Axiak denied the bail request and remanded the accused into custody.
Camilleri was also assisted by lawyer Franco Debono.