Woman pretending to be a landlady charged with fraud

A woman has been charged with defrauding seven individuals out of nearly €3,000 in rent down payments by pretending to be the landlord of a Marsaskala flat which wasn't hers.

Before magistrate Aaron Bugeja this afternoon the accused, 46-year-old Sandra Cachia from Vittoriosa, who is unemployed and lives on government benefits, pleaded not guilty when she was charged with the fraud of some €2,900.

Inspector Christabelle Chetcuti explained that the investigation began after police in Marsascala had received a report of the accused putting up Facebook posts offering a flat for rent, taking the deposit and disappearing without trace.

On September 24 there had been several posts on Facebook by a number of people who claimed to have been tricked. Cachia's father had gone to speak to the police, the inspector added.

Although a warrant for Cachia's arrest was issued, the woman herself had proved elusive. Her father had told police that he didn't know her whereabouts but still communicated with her regularly over the phone.

Between the 19 and 22 September this year, Cachia had allegedly notched up seven victims, the court was told.

After a couple of British victims had posted warnings to fellow expats on Facebook, MaltaToday had got in touch with them to see what the issue was.

“At one point not only was I €400 down, I was homeless from October 1,” one tenant had told this newspaper in September.

“I contacted her via Facebook and it was my wife who went to view the apartment on Wednesday, September 21. I went to view it with her again two days later and we paid the deposit there and then with the agreement we could pick up the keys on Saturday 24. We arrived on the Saturday to nobody answering the door. I called twice and the phone just rang through. A

“Another family had arrived and were also ringing the buzzer and calling on their phone trying to reach somebody, so I tried the number again and it was engaged. It was then that I realized what was going on and I asked the family if they were also here for the apartment.

“We had received a receipt from Sandra and we compared with the other family who had the exact same receipt with matching ID card details. I believe she must have been the tenant of the apartment as she had showed us around the interior. She even had her two fox terriers in the apartment with her,” said another.

Cachia's lawyer, Emmy Bezzina, entered a plea of not guilty, saying the woman was suffering from mental and physical health issues. Depression, loneliness and suicidal tendencies, as well as a troubled relationship with her father were all mentioned as possible mitigating factors.

He requested the woman be released on bail and into the care of her father whom, the lawyer said, she fears enough to obey.

“This woman is not working, aged 46 and is under the thumb of her 80-year-old father who is very strict. If the court sends her to the CCF or forensic section it would be worse...There is a serious risk that if she is sent to prison or Mount Carmel Hospital, she will be harmed beyond redemption.”

Inspector Chetcuti objected to bail, pointing out that she had even now given the court an address that she didn't reside at. She lives in Marsascala, the police inspector said, adding that she feared that if released on bail, the woman would simply disappear again.

Bezzina argued that it had been the woman's father who took it upon himself to go to the police when he learned of her whereabouts. He had gone to the lawyer “first thing this morning” and had been instructed to contact the police.

The best person to take care of her in her condition was the woman's father, he submitted, adding that the woman's mother had abandoned her at a young age.

The lawyer exhibited documents from hospital, which he said, confirmed her diagnosis, but the Inspector pointed out that they only reported what she had told the doctors.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, too, noted that it wasn't a detailed assessment. “The prognosis says that she needed care but that luckily it was not a grave case.”

He called the woman's father to the witness stand, which the elderly gentleman did, wiping away tears as he composed himself.

Magistrate Bugeja asked him whether he was willing to guarantee his daughter's attendance for the next court sitting. He pointed out that if the man's daughter “made another mistake” or failed to observe her bail conditions, he would be the one paying for it. The father accepted this.

“I know the choice you have before you is not an easy one, but it is my duty to open your eyes to these things. If the court grants her bail it must impose certain conditions on both her and you.” The other alternative was prison, he explained.

The old man accepted. “She remains my daughter until she dies,” he said.

Turning to the accused, the magistrate made it clear that any attempts to abscond would be hurting her father most of all. “Do you see what your father has just said,” he asked. “Do you realise the responsibility on your shoulders?”

The court granted the woman bail, ordering her to live at a specified address and not to leave the island or try to hide herself, or try to approach any witnesses.

She was also bound to sign a bail book daily and observe a curfew against her father's third party guarantee of €10,000. The woman was also placed under a temporary supervision order until the date of her final judgement, together with a treatment order.

“Remember, Ms. Cachia, that you are not alone in answering for future errors,” the magistrate reminded as she turned to leave.