A man from Valletta was jailed for two years yesterday after he pleaded guilty to stealing various items of clothing from Eurosport in November 2006.

Appearing before magistrate Audrey Demicoli, Simon Cassar, 28, admitted stealing various items of clothing from Eurosport and verbally threatening Diane Mallia and Carmelo Sammut on 16 December 2006 in Birkirkara.

He was also found guilty of being in possession of a knife.

Cassar pleaded guilty to relapsing and committing the offence during the operative period of a suspended sentence.

Handing down her judgement, magistrate Demicoli took into consideration Cassar’s early guilty plea as well as his “voluminous” criminal record and jailed him for two years.

She pointed out that she had no other option but to impose an effective jail term, especially in view of the various chances the court had given Cassar that he had failed to take advantage of. Magistrate Demicoli also ordered Cassar not to approach Ms Mallia and Mr Sammut for one year, with a Lm100 fine in default, and recommended the Director of Corradino Corrective Facility to help Cassar overcome his drug abuse problem.

Police inspector Ramon Mercieca prosecuted while Dr Jose Herrera and Dr Veronique Dalli appeared for Cassar.