Suspect who ‘vanished’ while waiting in court for arraignment is caught

An Italian man who gave his guards the slip whilst inside the court building was recaptured by the police.

Giuseppe Condello Borg, 25, residing in Mgarr, was due to be charged on Monday afternoon over a number of thefts and attempted thefts from Mgarr and Mosta during the months of October and November this year.

However, his arraignment had to be suspended after the accused managed to escape his guards while waiting in the court corridor.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the police said the accused had escaped and exited the court building but was found sometime later and re-arrested.

Within an hour of his escape, Condello Borg was escorted back to the courtroom, having been found in Mgarr and taken back into police custody.

Whilst waiting for the magistrate to return to the courtroom, the Italian apologised to inspector Godwin Scerri, saying he had gone back to his home in Mgarr as he had been “frightened.”

“I’m just 25 years old,” he told Inspector Scerri after his return to the courtroom. “I have nothing to say to you,” replied the inspector.

To his lawyer, the man then said “I want to pay. I want to make things good… for my daughter’s sake.”

The accused had been arrested in Mġarr early on Sunday morning, after a passing police patrol noted that the man matched the description of a suspect in a string of car thefts in the Mġarr and Mosta area. After his arrest, the officers are understood to have discovered screwdrivers and other tools which could have been used to commit the thefts.

Condello Borg’s arraignment finally got underway just after 4:30pm on Monday. Dressed in a red hoodie, ripped jeans and colourful sneakers, the man told the court that he worked as a tile layer.

Inspector Scerri informed the court that the prosecution would be adding a new charge of escaping from custody. He briefly explained that the man had originally been arrested after the Mosta police station had received a number of reports of night time thefts and had placed the area in question under surveillance. The accused had been arrested as a result.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Asked whether bail was being requested, the defence declared that at this stage of proceedings and in the circumstances of this case, no such request was being made.

The court ordered that Condello Borg be remanded in custody.