A 32-year-old man stole some €1,500 worth of tools from his boss, saying he did so because he had not been paid for work that he did. 

Italian national Giuseppe Amato was arrested on the evening of August 20 after police received reports of a fight breaking out between two men in Bugibba town square.

Inspector Ryan Vella said that after breaking up the fight and apprehending Amato, the victim, another Italian man, told police that his aggressor had worked for him for some time and that they had started fighting because Amato had stolen construction tools from him.

Amato was charged in court on Monday with theft as well as disturbing the peace, fighting and assaulting another man without causing him any injury. 

The inspector said that while in custody, Amato had admitted to stealing the tools, saying however that he had returned some of them and that the value of the stolen property amounted to some €1,200.

Amato told police that he intended to travel to Sicily, and as a result he was held under arrest to prevent him from absconding.

Given his early admission and cooperation with the police, the prosecution would not be seeking effective jail time, Vella said.

Representing Amato, legal aid lawyer Charmaine Cherret said that while he was pleading guilty to the charges, it was worth noting that Amato had been moved to commit the crime because the victim had withheld wages from him. 

Amato, she said, had come to Malta to work some three weeks prior to the incident. But when time had come for him to get paid, his wages never materialised.

Amato wanted to repay the theft of the tools and while he had been injured during the Bugibba fight, he would not be pressing charges against the other man, she said. 

Following a guilty plea from Amato, Magistrate Doreen Clarke handed him a one-year prison sentence suspended for three years and ordered him to pay back the value of what he had stolen within three months.