Twin brothers who stand accused of armed robberies and mugging elderly women have been remanded in custody after pleading not guilty to the crimes.
Paul and Roderick Scicluna, 40, from Cospicua, face charges related to three armed holdups, two muggings of elderly ladies and two failed attempts to draw funds from an ATM using a stolen bank card.
The brothers, one walking on crutches due to a physical impairment, have also been jointly charged with driving a vehicle without a valid insurance cover.
Paul Scicluna was separately charged with having, on three different occasions, held his victims against their will, carrying an unlicensed weapon as well as being a recidivist.
Inspector Fabian Fleri explained how investigators had first focused on two armed robberies targeting a Zejtun lotto booth within the span of ten days, earlier this month.
CCTV footage from the crime scene had put investigators on the trail of a Volkswagen Golf with number plates traceable to Roderick Scicluna.
That piece of evidence soon linked the suspect to two snatch-and-grab incidents which had taken place within minutes of each other on January 10. The first had involved a 77-year old pedestrian at Tarxien who was robbed of her handbag at around 9:45am.
Barely an hour later, an 82-year old women in Paola faced a similar fate.
Minutes after the second mugging, one of the suspect robbers had allegedly attempted, unsuccessfully, to withdraw money from an ATM at a bank’s Zejtun branch, using a card found in one of the ladies’ handbag.
The description of the suspect thief at the ATM appeared to match that of an aggressor who held up at knifepoint an 87-year old man, inside his garage at Zejtun, on December 28. That theft happened at around 6:15pm, with the culprit making off with some €200 in cash.
Investigators homed in on the two brothers, who were eventually arrested.
Both pleaded not guilty during their arraignment today.
Defence lawyer Carm Mifsud Bonnici did not request bail at this stage but asked the court to recommend that the brothers be given all necessary help while in custody, in view of their drug habit.
That request was duly upheld by the court, presided over by magistrate Rachel Montebello, and the brothers were remanded in custody.
Inspectors Fabian Fleri, Lydon Zammit and Paul Camilleri prosecuted.