A man with a criminal history stretching all the way back to 2004 has been jailed for three and a half years after being found guilty of stealing cash from a grocery store.

Matthew Camilleri, 38, was jailed for 44 months by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech yesterday, upon his conviction for aggravated theft, breaching bail and breaching a probation order in 2019.

Magistrate Frendo Dimech had taken over the case from another magistrate in February this year.

A court representative who had been summonsed by the prosecution had exhibited copies of Camilleri’s previous convictions. In two separate theft cases in 2012, he had been sentenced to two years and four years in prison respectively, and subsequently placed on probation in 2018 in connection with another crime.

The court said the evidence against Camilleri on the theft charge was unequivocal, as colour CCTV footage clearly showed Camilleri opening the shop’s cash register, taking out a wad of €20 notes and stuffing them in his pocket, keeping an eye on the back of the shop all the while. Camilleri was also proven to have been on probation at the time, and was therefore found guilty of breaching the conditions of the probation order.

He was cleared of breaching bail however, as no copies of the bail decree in question had been exhibited.

When handing down judgement, the court said it had to take into account his habitual criminality, noting that his “career in thievery” had started in 2004. Drug addiction appeared to be at the root of the man’s problems, but the court noted that Camilleri had not shown any intention to help himself or change his ways, and had instead pushed away the assistance that he had been offered.

Camilleri was sentenced to imprisonment for 44 months, from which the time already spent in preventive custody was to be deducted.

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