An appeals court declined a 16-year-old’s appeal from a three-month jail term handed down by the Magistrates’ Court, but recommended that the young woman should be kept under the police’s custody in a shelter and not in prison.

Mr Justice David Scicluna recommended that professionals who can contribute to the woman’s rehabilitation should be given access to help her.

Like the Magistrates’ Court, the Appeals Court expressed concern at the fact that there was no ideal institution where minors can be rehabilitated through education.

The court also ordered that the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry and the office of the Children’s Commissioner be notified to consider the court’s recommendation.

The young woman, whose personal details cannot be made public because she is under consenting age, was found guilty of stealing a wallet containing cash and some cards from an elderly man on 4 August last year at around 10.30am.

She was also found guilty of relapsing.

The victim had just cashed his pension cheque and gave her some of the money and put the rest in his pocket, which the girl stole.

The girl’s probation officer, Chantal Avellino, told the court that the accused failed to attend her probation appointments together with her psychotherapist, Elaine Micallef, and psychiatrist Peter Muscat.

She also failed to turn up for appointments allocated to help her participate in some courses that would help her find a job.

On 19 May, Ms Avellino referred the accused to Aġenzija Sedqa to help her deal with her drug addiction.

It turns out that the accused encountered some problems in the shelter where she was living because she did not respect the ground rules and she has an anger management problem because whenever the shelter’s staff indicate that she is in the wrong, she immediately flares out.