A young man allegedly caught stealing bottles of whisky from a Santa Venera supermarket was remanded in custody after pleading not guilty, saying that "he didn't want to go to jail".

Dawid Pawel Paruzel, 29, from Gżira, landed back in the dock just two days after pleading guilty in a separate arraignment where he was handed a suspended sentence. 

Barely hours after that conviction, he was allegedly spotted on security cameras at Wellbees supermarket taking the alcohol bottles from a shelf and slipping them into his backpack. 

A shop supervisor approached the suspect. 

By the time the supervisor approached, he had allegedly taken 10 bottles. The theft was not completed because of something independent of the accused's will.

Rapid Intervention Unit police were alerted and the youth was arrested. 

On Friday, he was charged with attempted theft, committing the alleged offence while under a suspended sentence handed down on November 15 and being destitute. 

He was first inclined to plead guilty but then backtracked, saying he did not want to go to jail. 

He was remanded in preventive custody. 

AG lawyer Joseph Camilleri Azarov and Inspector Elisia Scicluna prosecuted. Lawyer Leontine Calleja was legal aid counsel.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.