One of three Swiss girls who were minding their own business in Paceville this morning ended up victim of a snatch and run incident on the very last day of their holiday on our islands.

The perpetrator, a Somali, Abdirisaq Dahir Diheye, was captured by police soon after. He was sentenced to one year imprisonment suspended for two years.

The 23 year old Somali man, who is a resident at the Marsa open centre, pleaded guilty to the charges. He broke down in tears while doing so as the victim and those accompanying her looked on.

The victim said that her bag was stolen along with her mobile phone and other personal belongings.

While the mobile phone was retrieved along with her purse, which contained some Swiss francs, certain other documents were not, such as her passport. The police immediately called the Swiss consul in Malta to intervene as a result of her lost travel documents.

She said that when she looked back to see who had snatched her bag she could not identify who the perpetrator was due to the amount of people who were walking in the streets of Paceville during the early hours of this morning.

But later on, by chance, the police caught the Somali man after receiving a report that bottles were being smashed against the ground in the St George’s Bay area.

When the police scrambled to the scene, they found Mr Diheye to be one of the perpetrators of the breakages. When they investigated the accused further, they found an iPhone in his possession which it turned out, belonged to the victim of the snatch and run.

The accused claimed that he had purchased the phone for 120 euros. The description given to the police by the victim of the her belongings also matched with those found in the possession of the accused.

Dr Mark Mifsud Cutajar was appointed legal aid of the Somali man.

Police Inspector Elton Taliana prosecuted.