Two men from Qormi, Darren Brincat and Alex Mallia, 36 and 38 respectively, today were remanded in custody after being charged with stealing car batteries out of a scrapyard in Zebbug with a total value exceeding €2,329.37.

Their charges also include being relapsers. Brincat also has the added charges of causing damage the property of the scrapyard owner, threatening to kill him and causing slight harm while violating his probation conditions.

The prosecution, led by Inspector Roderick Agius, told the court that Brincat was a drug addict whose probation officer said wasn’t doing well. This was one of the reasons why the prosecution objected to bail saying that the controlled environment would help the accused to stick to a problem.

When legal aid Patrick Valentino, who is representing Mallia, asked Brincat whether he was a drug addict or not, the accused insisted that it wasn’t a bad drug problem as he only used drugs during the weekend.

Brincat kept interrupting proceedings to insist that he was there for nothing and when Dr Valentino told him he couldn’t speak, the accused turned to the Inspector saying, “What kind of lawyer is this?” At this point, the legal aid requested not to represent the accused and the court allowed a substitution.

Mallia was also denied bail as he was said not to be trustworthy and that there was a very high chance that he would approach the main witness of the case. The court heard how there is video evidence which caught the two red-handed and Mallia still insisted that he was there for nothing. Brincat even piped in to defend Mallia during one of his many outbursts in court.

Both the accused were very vocal after the Magistrate left the hall insisting that they were innocent despite being told repeatedly by the escorting police officers to stop.

The case was presided by Magistrate Dr Audrey Demicoli.