Stern warning for spending spree youth

"Children should not be given everything they ask for because they would grow up and end up crucifying you," a magistrate warned yesterday.

Magistrate Abigail Lofaro made her admonition while hearing a case of an 18-year-old who stood charged with swindling some Lm4,000 worth of designer goods and equipment to the detriment of several people by making use of cheques when he had no money in his account.

Gordon Schembri, 18, of Birzebbuga, was arraigned under arrest by Inspector Mario Tonna and charged with "buying" a laptop, several mobile phones, expensive shoes and designer clothes between May 1-25. He was further charged with relapsing, having been found guilty of aggravated theft last October, when he was put on probation for three years.

Defence lawyer Michael Schiriha argued that the youth had gone astray, "pulled by the tide, wanting it all and going on a spending spree".

The court heard that the youth's parents were leading separate lives and that the father was paying Lm100 rent monthly for an apartment in Paceville where the youth was living on his own.

The defence said the father had "tried to get closer to his son" after he had given him a lot of trouble and wanted to earn his trust by paying the rent of his Paceville flat.

Magistrate Lofaro said children had to be taught they could not always get what they wanted in life as that would land them in trouble later on.

The father argued that his son had a job in a Paceville bar and he was paying rent for him to live there as it was easier for the youth to sleep there than to have to go back to Birzebbuga in the small hours of the morning when he ended work.

The court granted Schembri bail against a personal guarantee of Lm2,000 and ordered him not to go to Paceville and to return to live with his father in Birzebbuga.

The magistrate warned Schembri to take her stern warning seriously as she meant business.

"I am not convinced you are really willing to reform. These are not things to laugh about but things that make one weep. And cry you will unless you put yourself back on the right track for otherwise you'll be imprisoned," she said.