Gozo ministry solar panel thief gets second chance at reform

A drug addict who admitted to stealing photovoltaic panels from a ministry car park in Gozo has been placed on probation, after a court observed that he was the victim of “society’s wolves.”

Marvic Mercieca, 36, of Żebbuġ, Gozo was charged with aggravated theft and handling stolen goods after the missing solar panels were traced back to him. Mercieca was also charged with breaching probation orders and relapsing.

The 14 panels, which were stolen in March 2019, were the property of the Gozo Ministryand had been installed in the ministry’s car park in Victoria. The accused had returned them after getting caught.

Before Magistrate Brigitte Sultana Mercieca he pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court had asked to hear the man’s probation officer testify, noting that the man was making excellent and exemplary progress in his methadone therapy.

He was communicating with his children and was planning to reunite his family once his girlfriend was released from prison on unrelated charges.

Mercieca’s lawyer, Larry Formosa, argued that in this case the accused would best be placed under a probation order as incarceration would “only expose the accused to more drugs whilst in prison.” Not only would this benefit him, but also society as he could be given a community work order.

In the last two years, he had made significant progress under his previous probation order and had come to the realisation that it was not worth sacrificing his future and that of his family by committing more crime. Formosa explained that the accused had grown up without a mother and had “ended up the victim of society’s wolves.”

Magistrate Sultana said the man had a window of opportunity to rebuild his life and his family and to guide his children to avoid the mistakes he had made.

Referring to case law, the court said it was giving the man a last chance to reform himself and get back on the right track, failing which he would go to prison.

Mercieca was found guilty on his own admission and sentenced to a three-year probation order and ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid community work.

Inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri prosecuted.