A man who was arrested on the roof of his mother-in-law's residence was accused of attempted theft on Monday, even though he claimed he was only there to see his daughter.

The man who allegedly supplied him with a ladder was also arrested and accused of involvement.  

Francois Zammit, a 40-year old plasterer and Ronald Azzopardi, 31, currently “between jobs,” both from Zabbar pleaded not guilty to attempted theft and complicity respectively.

Mr Zammit was separately charged with breaching bail conditions. Both men were further charged with recidivism.

Prosecuting Senior Inspector Trevor Micallef explained how an anonymous phone call on Sunday afternoon had alerted the police to the presence of a suspected thief on the roof of a Zejtun residence.

The man, later identified as Mr Zammit, the son-in-law of the owner of the house, had been trying to enter the residence in what appeared to be an attempted robbery.

Upon his arrest, the suspect had told police that he had been trying to gain entry so as to see his daughter.

Further information led the police to track down the man’s accomplice who had transported the ladder used to reach the roof and had then driven away, taking the ladder back to a friend’s farmhouse.

A request for bail was strongly objected to, in spite of the defence’s arguments that the case “was rather hazy” since there was no evidence that the accused had attempted to steal and no damage had been caused.

However, in view of the prosecution’s objections, Magistrate Gabriella Vella, denied bail since civilian witnesses who are to testify are well known to both accused and there is thus a real risk of tampering with evidence.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.