Burglar who stole over €3,000 worth of plastic toys from a factory is jailed

A burglar who, together with an accomplice, stole over €3,000 worth of plastic toys from a factory and caused €3,481 in damage in the process, has been jailed for two and a half years and ordered to undergo rehabilitation for drug abuse.

Robert Borg, a 50-year-old delivery driver from Tarxien had been arrested together with an accomplice in July 2019, after being spotted breaking into the Bulebel factory by police officers.

The police had placed the area under surveillance at the request of the factory owner, because the two thieves had struck twice already, once during the previous month and the latest theft having taken place less than a week before.

CCTV footage handed to the police by the factory owner showed Borg and his accomplice Elvis Falzon cutting a hole in the canvas back of a delivery truck that was parked inside the perimeter and taking some of the merchandise it was meant to deliver the next day.

The footage showed the Borg loading the stolen plastic toys into a Maruti jeep while Falzon acted as a lookout.

On the day of the arrest, police officers staking out the premises had observed the same Maruti jeep arriving at the factory at around 7pm. By the time the officers had moved in, the thieves had already peeled off the tape covering the tear in the truck’s canvas and were in the process of unloading the merchandise from it.

Inspector Roderick Attard charged Borg with theft, aggravated by means, time and value, as well as with handling stolen goods and criminal damage to third-party property. He was also charged with attempted theft relating to the occasion on which he was caught, and recidivism. Falzon had previously also been convicted for his part in the crimes in separate proceedings and sentenced to probation for three years.

Although Borg pleaded not guilty, Magistrate Rachel Montebello noted that he had admitted to the police during questioning, also telling them that he had previously stolen from the factory “around three other times” in the fortnight before his arrest.

The court also heard that Borg had previously been referred to Caritas but had not stayed in contact and not completed rehabilitation. In her judgement on the case, Magistrate Montebello observed that Borg’s drug habit had “evidently had absolute mastery over him, and his manifest lack of motivation to address it constitutes an impelling reason for the incarceration of the defendant who cannot be trusted to return to society before he received mandatory treatment for all the time required, so as to rehabilitate himself and be rid of drug addiction once and for all.”

Borg was sentenced to imprisonment for two and a half years, during which time he was to also receive treatment for drug addiction. He was also ordered to pay €5,491 for his share of the damages suffered by the factory owners and €399 in costs within eight months.

Lawyer Leontine Calleja assisted Borg as legal aid counsel.