Duo admit to stealing cash from Mosta shops

A couple from San Gwann have received suspended sentences after admitting their involvement in several thefts from shops in Mosta.

Police Inspector Godwin Scerri arraigned Daniela Maria Melarosa and Baldassare Borg, also known as Dassier, on charges of aggravated theft and complicity in aggravated theft, respectively.

38-year-old Melarosa, who previously worked as a salesgirl at one of the shops targeted, was accused of stealing a total of over €2,000 in cash from the shop in Constitution Street, Mosta. Borg was charged with complicity in the thefts. 

The woman was also charged with the theft of an unspecified amount of cash from a confectionary on the same street. Borg was also accused of acting as her accomplice during the commission of this offence. 

After Melarosa was fired by her boss, presumably in connection with the theft, Borg sent abusive messages to her former employer. In court today, Borg alone was additionally charged with misuse of electronic equipment as well as recidivism, in view of his several previous brushes with the law.

Borg, the son of PN canvasser Vincent Borg, who goes by the nickname Ċensu l-Iswed, had been handed a conditional discharge in 2002 for threatening and assaulting a police officer during a football match.

He had also been fined €500 in 2016 after being convicted of punching a futsal player during a brawl at the Corradino Sports Pavilion. He was president of the Valletta futsal team at the time of the assault.

Three years later, in 2019, a court ordered Borg not to contact or approach blogger Manuel Delia after Borg posted intimidatory comments under a Facebook post of Delia’s in which he had criticised former PN leader Adrian Delia. 

In court today both Melarosa and Borg pleaded guilty to the charges, being sentenced to imprisonment for two years, and suspended for four years. Borg was fined €100 in relation to the charge relating to misuse of communication equipment.

Presiding magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit also ordered the pair to reimburse the value of the stolen cash to the victims and imposed a 3-year protection order in favour of the victims.

Police inspector Godwin Scerri prosecuted. Lawyer Mario Mifsud was the defence counsel.