25-year old Omar Bekbak, of Msida was placed under probation after admitting to stealing a driller to help his uncle pay the rent. On Monday afternoon, at around 4pm, a man called at the Sliema Police Station claiming that a driller worth €300 was stolen from his van, which was parked at the Strand, Gzira. The tool and the van belonged to the company Servgroup.

Investigators accessed CCTV footage from cameras in the area and identified two culprits, one of which was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. The two men were observed talking and subsequently the younger of the two walked towards the van and from inside took a black box believed to contain the stolen driller. The elder man was identified as Martin Tabone.

Prosecuting officer Jason Sultana ordered the arrest of the suspect who told the police that the other man was his nephew Omar Bekbak. During a search at the accused’s residence, police officers recovered the stolen driller together with the baseball cap and clothing the accused was seen wearing in the CCTV footage.

During interrogation, Bekbak told the police that his uncle had noticed the expensive driller but since he had been recently convicted of theft, was scared to steal it. “He kept going on about how much he needed cash and that he was about to be evicted as he could not pay the rent, so I took the driller on his behalf. I sold it to another person, but when I got to know that my uncle was arrested I bought it back”, the accused told investigators.

The youth was accused of stealing and handling stolen property. He pleaded guilty as charged. Considering Bekbak’s early guilty plea Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit ordered that the youth is placed under a probation order of nine months. Legal aid lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar appeared for the accused.