Dangerous driver jailed after he was arrested driving a moped

A dangerous driver who had been banned from driving and placed on an insurance blacklist for his chaotic driving has been jailed, after he was arrested driving a moped with another vehicle’s number plate.

Magistrate Gabriella Vella had heard Mario Camilleri, known as Marius, who had been released on bail for dangerous driving last January on conditions which included a driving ban, was arrested in Qormi last month when officers pulled him over after noticing something strange about his moped’s number plate. The number plate, belonging to another vehicle, had been sawed in two to fit the square slot on the moped.

The vehicle was found to be uninsured and had no road licence.

Defence counsel Leslie Cuschieri said Camilleri had been unable to walk to the station because of an injury he had suffered at his garage. Camilleri pleaded guilty to the charges. He claimed to have panicked when he had forgotten to sign his bail book and hopped into a car to drive to the police station, thereby breaching his bail conditions.

Having put off his case for punishment, the court handed down sentence today. Magistrate Vella took into consideration the nature of the crimes which the man had admitted to committing, the fact that some of them were absorbed into a single charge, his criminal record, which showed a series of convictions for similar crimes and the fact that the accused had exhibited proof of his leg injury.

In view of these factors, the court imposed a 16 month effective prison sentence, together with the confiscation of €20,000 in bail guarantees and extended the operative period of other punishments handed down by previous courts.

Inspector Sergio Pisani prosecuted.