A man was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to attempting to steal from a ticketing machine at the Mater Dei car park, barely two months after having been placed under probation.

Melvin Magro, a 35-year-old Msida resident, was escorted to court on Thursday under arrest and charged with the attempted theft which allegedly took place on March 18 at around 5.15am. 

He was also charged with wilfully damaging the parking ticket machine as well as breaching the conditions of a probation order handed down on January 27. 

Investigations into the attempted theft had also linked the suspect to an earlier report concerning theft of cash from a service station at Żejtun in the early hours of the morning on January 17. 

CCTV footage from the crime scenes had allegedly linked the suspect to the thefts. 

The man pleaded not guilty.

No request for bail was made at Thursday’s arraignment and the court, presided over by magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, remanded the accused in custody.

Inspector Jonathan Ransley prosecuted. Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Rene’ Darmanin were defence counsel.