A 31-year-old man from Qormi today was given a one-year jail sentence suspended for three years after being found guilty of using two fake €100 notes to buy a number of items from two shops. 

A court heard how the accused bought a bouquet of heart-shaped flowers and a mobile phone top-up voucher from a flower shop in Qormi.

The owner noticed that the €100 note looked dodgy soon after, and filed a police report.

On the same day, the accused went to a Qormi bar and bought lemonade, a packet of cigarettes and some other items using another €100 note.

Testifying in court, the bar owner's father Victor Borg said the bar was closed at the time but he opened up as he knows the accused.

Mr Borg said he gave the accused his change, but almost immediately after noticed something was amiss with the €100 note.

He ran after the accused, who got into the passenger side of a Transit van. He told the accused that he thought something was wrong with the note, and the accused replied by asking if he has a currency detector.

Mr Borg went back to the bar to check the note, but by the time he went back out the accused had fled the scene.

In a statement to the police, the accused admitted to using the two €100 notes but denied knowing they were false.

He told the police about his battle with drug abuse, and said he got the notes from his drug dealer know as Il-Bojja.

He said he is willing to return the money in question to the two shops.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that the man has had two past brushes with the law, but appears willing to reform and kick his drug habit.

She warned the accused that this is his last chance, and placed him under a supervision order.

He was ordered to pay €100 back to both of the shop owners with six months.