Qormi woman pleads guilty to complicity in violent robberies, says she was misled

A young woman from Qormi has been handed a suspended sentence after she admitted to participating in two violent robberies last November.

Police Inspectors Fabian Fleri and Kylie Borg charged Lucienne Lia, 27, of Qormi, with complicity in an aggravated robbery of an elderly woman on 20 November 2016 as well as in the robbery of a lotto booth in San Gwann eight days before, which crime was aggravated by violence and the amount stolen.

Legal aid lawyer Patrick Valentino was appointed to represent Lia, who told the court that she was unemployed.

Inspector Fleri explained to magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras how, during the course of police investigations in to a bag-snatching theft in November, Lia had emerged as the driver of the getaway vehicle.

During questioning, she had also admitted that to have been driving the getaway car in the holdup of the San Gwann lotto office, he said.

Tristan Falzon and Roderick Stanyer have been charged in separate criminal proceedings.

Inspector Fleri told the court that Lia had cooperated with the police.

Lia pleaded guilty, but claimed that she had only been a passenger in the car in one instance and in the second, she had only been asked to drive Falzon somewhere.

In submissions on punishment, Fleri said he would not object to a suspended sentence in view of her clean criminal record.

The Court imposed a one-year prison sentence that was suspended for two years and placed Lia under a supervision order, warning her that she failure to comply with the order would also trigger the jail term.