A teenager has been charged with a litany of car thefts after his latest alleged victim chased him down and trapped him in a stolen car.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to a court order, denied 35 charges relating to car thefts, hit-and-run incidents, dangerous driving and driving without a licence.

He was released on bail.

The court heard that he allegedly stole a car that was left momentarily unattended by its owner on Tuesday.

He smashed it into an Italian man’s car, then drove at high speed across a roundabout before hitting a kerb and stopping against a wall.

The Italian man gave chase and trapped the teenager in the car until traffic police arrived and arrested him.

Inspectors Pierguido Saliba and Melvyn Camilleri said the youngster had confessed to driving a stolen vehicle.

Subsequent investigations linked the same motorist to another three car thefts where the cars ended up being abandoned after having been damaged beyond repair.

The court heard how the 17-year-old regularly stole cars and attempted daredevil manoeuvres with them, invariably crashing.

He also denied damaging third party property, breaching a Probation Order issued barely ten days ago, as well as committing the alleged offences while under a conditional discharge handed down in February.  

Defence lawyer Victor Bugeja said it was "a social case." Few details were disclosed owing to the sensitive nature of the teenager’s social and medical background. 

Magistrate Rachel Montebello ordered the drawing up of a social enquiry report to better assess his situation. A request for bail was not objected to by the prosecution so long as stringent conditions and immediate supervision were imposed.

The Court released the teenager on bail, ordering him to sign the bail book four times a week, stay indoors between 8pm and 7am, against a personal guarantee of €2,000. He was also placed under a temporary supervision order.