Woman admits to stealing €6,000 from houses, sentenced to 30 months in prison

A 41-year-old woman has been jailed for nearly three years after she admitted to stealing some €6,000 in cash in a series of thefts targeting the local African community.

Meriam Abdussalam Mouaddea, of Morocco, was arraigned under arrest before magistrate Joe Mifsud this morning, accused of stealing cash from three separate apartments since June last year. 

Police inspectors Robert Vella and Nicholas Vella explained how the woman had been arrested yesterday in connection with the theft of €282 in cash, committed yesterday in San Gwann. Police also charged Mouaddea with the thefts of €4,000 in cash in June and €2,420 in cash and jewellery in October last year. The two latter thefts were from apartments in St Paul's bay.

This was not Mouaddea's first brush with the law. In December 2014, she had been jailed for three months for breaching a probation order after she was caught in the act of stealing from a friend's Sliema flat, which she had broken into, hours after knocking on the door and asking for a glass of water. 

All of the woman's victims are African.

Magistrate Mifsud observed that the accused, being a Moroccan citizen, did not enjoy refugee protection, opining that guests who don't observe the rules and create social tension should be sent back.

Lawyer Joe Brincat, appearing for Mouaddea, explained that the accused had been taking care of an individual in Malta for a number of years, but that this person had then disappeared, leaving her destitute.

The court warned the lawyer that if the woman was going to admit the charges, she could expect to be given a custodial sentence. “She can seek help in prison and after that she can return to Morocco.”

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit had tried to help her by placing her on probation after her last conviction in June, but she had paid no heed, noted the court.

Brincat argued that the woman had not acted alone in at least one of the thefts. “Do you need a warrant to arrest this person? I will issue it right away,” the court replied, promising that the accused's cooperation in identifying her accomplice would be taken into account.

In a barely audible voice, the woman told the court that she didn't want to spend more time in prison because she was sick, but was given short shrift by the court. When Mouaddea later said that she feared that she would go to prison and the person who had assisted her would not, the magistrate explained that it was up to the police to prosecute her accomplice.

After taking into account her cooperation with the court, early guilty plea and her health conditions - understood to be anxiety-, the woman was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment.