A repeat-offender who stole cash and jewellery from an elderly couple's apartment was jailed for four years on Wednesday.

Matthew Camilleri, 34, was convicted of stealing some €600 in cash and around €500 worth of jewellery from the residence at Attard in February 2019.

CCTV footage from the scene showed how he turned up in a black SUV and broke into the flat at about 6pm while the residents were out for an hour or so.

On their return, they found that cash, cheque books, jewellery, wallets and handbags had gone missing.

The court heard that the intruder had left after some 20 minutes, carrying a bag, his face identifiable in the sensor-operated lighting at the door.

One of the victims subsequently testified that she had previously spotted Camilleri in the vicinity of her home. A relative, living in a flat within the same block, also reported seeing the stranger in the common area on the day of the robbery.

Some of the items reported stolen had later been discovered in the vicinity of St Philip’s Hospital.

The suspect was tracked down and prosecuted for aggravated theft, wilful damage to third party property as well as recidivism.

Besides the CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts, mobile phone localisation records also linked him to the area at the time of the break-in.

Magistrate Mifsud in handing down judgement said that Camilleri, instead of reform, had persisted in his criminal ways.

While media reports often focused upon cases where bail was granted, nothing was said about victims’ trauma, Mifsud said. Such people suffered in silence.

He said society was "crying out to the courts to respond to [its] concerns,” wanting only to live and work in peace.

Rehabilitation of those who tried to mend their ways was to be urged, but society could not tolerate those who persisted in defying the law, leaving victims in their wake, Magistrate Mifsud insisted.