A 33-year-old unemployed man has been charged with stealing €800 worth of Lego, as well as domestic violence charges on Wednesday.

However, he claimed that the woman who reported him was complicit in the theft and turned on him once she saw the police were closing in on him.

Police Inspector Gabriel Kitcher explained to the court that police had received two reports, one from a toy shop in Għaxaq on December 9 and another in Żabbar on December 11 last year.

In both cases, a man had walked off with two Lego sets, worth €500 and €300 respectively.

When police examined the CCTV footage they immediately recognised the accused as he was well known to them.

They interrogated him and the man was very cooperative, the inspector said, candidly admitting that he was the person seen in the CCTV footage.

Police Inspector Audrey Micallef also told the court that on January 26, the man’s girlfriend went to the police’s domestic violence unit to file a report against the man.

The woman said that she was back with the man, despite a court having issued her with a protection order against him previously.

She said she had however ended the relationship – again - a day prior and that when she did that, he threatened her and tried to force her to steal things for him.

Micallef said that they had cautioned the woman to consult a lawyer at this stage and she underwent a risk assessment.

When the inspector went to look for the accused. she discovered that he was being held under arrest by her colleagues in connection with the Lego theft.  

Micallef said the accused had also cooperated when she interrogated him in connection with the domestic violence claims. He confirmed that he had been in a relationship with the woman despite the protection order, saying that it was the woman who had made contact with him after he got out of prison in September.

The man told the inspector he was surprised to be told [by the police] that she had left him, as it was the first he had heard of it.

He said the two met frequently after his release and soon began to live together, frequently going on weekend breaks to local hotels.

He said that the woman was involved in the Lego thefts and actively sought out people to whom they could sell the stolen goods.

The man was charged with two counts of theft, insulting and threatening his girlfriend and causing her to fear violence, breaching the terms of a protection order and recidivism, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Objecting to a request for bail, the prosecution said that while there was no material fear of tampering with evidence given the accused’s candour with the police, there was a tangible fear that he would commit another offence.

It was clear that the crimes were motivated to sustain the couple’s active drug addiction, he said, and this also posed a risk of the accused violating the protection order.

The domestic violence charges must also be taken seriously, he added, noting that the victim and other witnesses are still to testify.

Defence lawyer Martin Farrugia said that the items that had been allegedly stolen were not objectively valuable and were merely toys.

He added that despite the protection order it was clear that for several months the alleged victim did not object to the relationship and was happy to be with him. It was only when she was done with the relationship that she had drawn attention to the protection order.

“We have to be practical about such cases. We should grant bail and see about the rest later,” he said.

This prompted immediate protest from the prosecution, who pointed out that history had shown that authorities could not simply “wait and see” when it comes to domestic violence cases.

The court, presided by Magistrate Marse Ann Farrugia, rejected the bail request and remanded the accused in custody.

Police Inspectors Gabriel Kitcher and Audrey Micallef, together with AG lawyer Clive Aquilina prosecuted. Lawyer Martin Farrugia appeared as legal aid for the accused.