Two men were remanded in custody yesterday after pleading not guilty to ransacking the house of two elderly sisters in Zejtun while they were in church.

Benny Muscat, aged 42, from Cospicua, and 20-year-old Gordon Schembri from Gzira denied stealing more than Lm2,000 worth of jewellery.

The prosecution charged the two men with stealing various items from Our Lady of Sorrows Street in Zejtun while Katerina Falzon and her sister Rozina, aged 68 and 62 respectively, were in church at 7pm on 3 March.

The men were also charged with receiving stolen goods and damaging the front door of the sisters’ house. Mr Muscat alone was further charged with relapsing, while both of them were further charged with committing a crime during the operative term of a suspended sentence. Before magistrate Anthony Vella, the men denied the charges brought against them. Their request for bail was turned down and they were remanded in custody.

The court recommended to the director of the Corradino Correctional Facility that Mr Schembri be detained at Mount Carmel Hospital in view of treatment he is receiving.

Police Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi prosecuted while Dr Ian Farrugia and Dr Anthony Cutajar appeared for the accused.