A man from Senglea was remanded in custody after being arraigned over a string of thefts and several traffic offences committed over a span of four weeks.

Floyd Attard, 32, unemployed, was arraigned this morning on seven charges of theft and four charges of voluntary damage to third party property.

The man was also charged with handling stolen goods, using invalid licence plates, tampering with licence plates and driving a car that had no road licence and driving without an insurance cover. He was further charged with failing to appear yesterday at the police HQ when summoned by the inspector.

The court, presided by Magistrate Josette Demicoli, heard how the offences allegedly took place in various locations centred around Paola, Żebbuġ and Birkirkara, over the weeks between April 8 and last Tuesday.

Among the items stolen were a number of laptops, a vehicle and cash, the prosecution declared in court, while also pointing out that Mr Attard was a relapser.

After pleading not guilty to the charges, the accused did not file a request for bail. The defence lawyer instead asked for his client to be held at the Dangerous Drugs Unit at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli made a recommendation to the director of prisons to take the defendant's request into consideration “as he deemed fit”.

Inspector James Grech prosecuted. Lawyer Mario Mifsud was defence counsel.