Man jailed three years for €13,000 home burglary

A 56-year-old man from Marsa was sent to prison for three years after a court found him guilty of breaking into a home and stealing €13,000 in cash.

Joseph Xuereb was convicted of carrying out the aggravated theft from a home in July 2019. He was sentenced on Wednesday. 

The theft occurred while the resident was away from home. When she returned that afternoon, she found the front door forced open and the house in disarray. It was only the next day that her son realised that €13,000 in cash, which he had left in an envelope in his bedroom drawer, had been stolen.

Investigators reviewed CCTV footage from the area and observed three men entering the residence around 8:00am on the day of the burglary. Xuereb was the only one identified by police. The footage showed him leaving his Marsa home earlier that morning, wearing a distinctive white t-shirt with a grey stripe and the word “KNOW” printed on it.

Police later found the same t-shirt during a search of Xuereb’s residence. The court noted that the footage, combined with this evidence and the accused’s proximity to the scene, proved beyond reasonable doubt that Xuereb was one of the three men who committed the theft.

The court rejected the defence’s claim that the footage was inconclusive and that the stolen money should not be considered valid evidence because it may have breached a freezing order against the victim. The court said that even if the cash was illegally held, this did not give others the right to steal it.

While Xuereb was initially charged as a repeat offender, the court did not uphold that count, noting that the prosecution had failed to present final convictions proving recidivism.

In sentencing, the court considered Xuereb’s criminal record, which includes seven prior convictions, four of them for aggravated theft. It noted that despite previous chances through probation and suspended sentences, Xuereb had continued to reoffend.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, with the time spent in preventive custody to be deducted from his term. The court also ordered him to pay the costs related to court-appointed experts within six months, warning that failure to do so could lead to further imprisonment.

Inspectors Shawn Pawney and Wayne Camilleri prosecuted. 

Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia presided over the case.