Second chance for Ecuadorian woman found guilty of forgery

A court has handed a second chance to an Ecuadorian-born woman who altered her nationality on her Italian residence permit, after it heard how her application for Italian citizenship was still awaiting approval, 13 years after she applied for it.

22-year-old Joselyn Roman was arrested at the police headquarters in Floriana yesterday, when she had tried to obtain a police conduct certificate using the altered document. She was subsequently charged with forgery offences.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti explained to magistrate Anthony Vella how the woman had resided in Italy since childhood. Unable to find employment in Italy, the woman had arrived in Malta with her Italian partner one year ago to look for a job. And find one she did, as on the day of her arrest, Roman had just been offered employment - on the condition that she present a police conduct certificate.

As the Italian authorities were still processing her application for citizenship, the woman - desperate not to let the precious job opportunity slip through her fingers - amended the “nationality” field in her residence permit to read “Italian”.

“An act of stupidity, rather than malice,” was how defence lawyer Stefano Filletti described the woman's actions, quoting her as having explained to him that “things start and never end in Italy.”

The lawyer said that she had written a note explaining her desperation, which she had initially wanted to read in court, but had decided at the last moment that she could not face speaking. He summarised saying that she had “felt that she was a nobody and that she wanted to work”, said the lawyer.

Inspector Darren Buhagiar, prosecuting, told the court that Malta was seeing an influx of Italian residence permit holders seeking employment here due to a dearth of opportunities in Italy. “She knew the document was fake and still presented it,” said the inspector. He added that the woman had initially been uncooperative with the police, but added that “she admitted, eventually.”

The prosecution recommended a suspended sentence, adding that the woman should be deported to Italy. However it was pointed out that due to the reinstatment of the Schengen agreement, the woman could simply return.

But Filletti objected strongly to the idea of handing the woman a suspended sentence, saying that it would be grossly unfair to ruin her criminal record and prejudice her for the rest of her life. “All she was asking for was a police conduct certificate, which ironically we now have in our hands and see to be clean,” the lawyer , the remark eliciting a chuckle from the magistrate.

“Her punishment is that she could not find a job,” the lawyer said. “She had every opportunity to work on the black market but chose not to...they had no place to go.” He requested the court consider handing the woman a conditional discharge.

In view of her admission, the court pronounced Roman guilty and conditionally discharged her for three years.