Phone in stolen handbag leads police to alleged thief

A woman has been charged with having stolen a designer handbag full of cash and luxury accessories from a parked car, after a mobile phone that had been inside it led the police to her location. 

Julie Galdes, 36 and from Qormi, was arraigned before magistrate Charmaine Galea on Monday, accused of stealing a designer Louis Vuitton handbag from a parked Mercedes in St. Paul’s Bay.

The owner of the stolen items had filed a police report, stating that she had left her car unlocked and upon her return had found €1,300 in cash missing, together with her Iphone, Ray-Ban sunglasses and Omega watch which alone was worth around €3,000.

The prosecuting police inspector explained that CCTV footage collected during the investigation showed the suspect watching the complainant parking her vehicle and then crossing the road to the car.

Police established that the suspect had walked into a hotel in the vicinity, found an unlocked room, where she took the cash, watch, mobile phone and sunglasses from the handbag, which she then left in the hotel room, together with the victim's credit cards.

Two days later, the suspect was identified as Galdes, said the inspector. A major factor in the efforts to locate her was that the stolen phone was noted to be connecting to cell towers close to the detox centre. A search and arrest warrant was issued for Galdes, who was registered as living in Qormi but had been spending a lot of time in St. Paul’s Bay. 

After failing to find her at the Qormi address, police officers had then visited an address in St. Paul’s Bay. Although there was nobody inside when the police knocked on the door, neighbours had told officers that a woman matching the suspect’s description was frequently seen there. Galdes was arrested not far from the property, later that day. 

Of the stolen items, only the iPhone’s cover was recovered.

The victim’s lawyer, Charles Mercieca told the court that the mobile phone had data and pictures which were of sentimental value to the victim. “Although the police had been tracking its movements all week, it was a wild goose chase,” he said.

Lawyer Amadeus Cachia told the court that his client would be pleading not guilty to the charges. The defendant had a drug problem and needed a treatment order, he said in his bail submissions, adding that there was a possibility of the stolen phone being returned to its owner. 

The prosecution objected to the bail request, citing the risk of evidence being tampered with, but also because the defendant had told the court that she was unemployed and had a drug addiction which she needed to maintain. 

“When we asked her to return the phone, Julie told us - not once or twice- that she couldn’t, and refused to cooperate when asked to name the person whom she had passed it on to,” Inspector Galea informed the court in his counter-arguments to the bail request. 

The court rejected the request for bail at this stage.

Inspector Warren Galea is prosecuting. Lawyer Amadeus Cachia is defence counsel.