Two men were remanded in custody on Thursday after they were charged with robbing a woman at knifepoint after one of them asked her out on a date.

Clive Gerada, 25, from Fgura and Keith Testa, 21, from Marsa, were charged with stealing the woman’s jewellery worth more than €2,000. They were also charged with conspiring to commit a crime and relapsing.

Testa alone was charged with holding the woman, who is vulnerable, against her will, slightly injuring her, threatening her with a knife and with carrying an unlicensed weapon.

The incident took place in Ġnien San Nikola, Cospicua on Tuesday at around 9pm.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli heard police inspector Lydon Zammit explain how the police were first informed of the robbery that evening when the victim went to the police station to report the matter.

She told the police that she had a date with Gerada, who said he was a farmer, and they went to a nearby garden.

While they were there, Testa, who works as an installer of air conditioning units, attacked her, placed a knife on her neck and took her gold necklace.

He said that while she was there, Gerada was calling her on her mobile and then turned up at the police station where he was immediately arrested.

The inspector said the police managed to retrieve the necklace although it had already been passed on to a third party.

Defence lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb, appearing for Gerada and Alex Scerri Herrera, Matthew Xuereb and Daniel John Attard, appearing for Testa, requested bail.

They questioned why a magisterial inquiry had not been ordered and why the woman’s testimony had not been taken under oath. They said all evidence had already been preserved and that the accused had cooperated with the police during their investigations.

In objecting to bail, Zammit said the victim was a vulnerable person with a physical disability who had trusted Gerada. He said police had civilian eyewitnesses who still had to testify and were concerned about the possibility that the accused would tamper with evidence if granted bail.

Magistrate Demicoli turned down the request at this point and ordered that the pair be remanded in custody.

Police Inspectors Stephen Gulia and Kurt Farrugia also prosecuted.