Three years’ jail for Ta’ Xbiex man charged with identity theft

Daniele Aquilina, 23, used stolen identity cards to apply for mobile phone contracts

A 23-year-old man from Ta’ Xbiex has been jailed for three years for using stolen ID cards to apply for a mobile phone contracts.

Police Inspector Kylie Borg had charged Daniele Aquilina with fraud-related offences in August 2013, telling the court that the investigation had been sparked by a complaint from an individual who had claimed to have received bills from mobile phone company GO in spite of never having entered in to a contract with the company.

The complainant had previously reported his ID card as having been stolen.

Investigations led the police to Aquilina and during a search in his residence officers had recovered no less than three stolen identity cards as well as the mobile phone mentioned in the contract.

The accused had pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, using a stolen identity card and making false declarations on a commercial document, as well as charges of relapsing and breaching previous bail conditions, having been found driving around past his court ordered curfew.

Aquilina admitted that he had entered into a mobile contract using a stolen identity card in July 2013, and to having defrauded GO as a result. He also admitted to breaching the conditions of a probation order he had been given by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera on 15th March 2011, as well as having breached bail conditions imposed on him by three magistrates.

The accused had told police that he had been on the roads despite his curfew because he had just had an argument with his girlfriend.

The court, having seen reports from the accused’s probation officers and his “infelicitous criminal record”, observed that he had “decided to take the path of criminality from a young age” and that in its opinion, a prison sentence would be fitting. Magistrate Demicoli handed down a 3 year prison sentence as well as confiscating Aquilina’s €5000 bail deposit.