Witnesses said that the accused, Mariella Grima, 24, from Hamrun, went to Phonelink, in St Paul’s Bay on 11 February and asked to see a Samsung mobile phone. Cecile Borg Olivier, who was serving the woman, told the court that as she was filling in the phone’s guarantee, Grima walked out of the shop claiming she was going to get her Visa card from the car. Grima did not return and owed the shop Lm200.

When testifying, the accused gave a very different version of events. She said she met Daniel Borg Olivier, the shop owner’s brother, on 10 February and she asked him whether he had a Siemens phone.

She said she told him she had no money but only wanted to see the phone. In spite of this, after seeing the phone, Grima said she liked it and kept it, claiming Mr Borg Olivier told her she could pay him by instalment.

In her testimony, Grima said on 11 February a man told her Mr Borg Olivier wanted his money.

She claimed he was threatening her to pay him and since this annoyed her, she decided not to give him the money she owed him. She claimed Cecile Borg Olivier never served her, but said it was Mr Borg Olivier that gave her the phone when she went to the shop.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted the woman never denied taking the phone. Yet it questioned why she would choose to keep it if she had claimed she had no money. In light of this, the court ruled the testimonies given by the prosecution’s witnesses to be more credible.

Grima was fined Lm150 for the offence considering she was a first time offender and the mobile phone had been returned to its rightful owner.