26 months for conning a convict

A Swatar man has been sentenced to 26 months imprisonment after a court found him guilty of theft and misappropriation of the property of a prison inmate.

30 year old Brian Pace had been charged with 10 offences in all: stealing a Peugeot from Birkirkara, breaking into a house in Zabbar, misappropriating a Mercedes entrusted to his care, misappropriating cash, stealing social security cheques, cashing said cheques, receiving stolen goods, breaching a probation order, and relapsing. The incidents all took place in 2008.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke heard how the crimes with which Pace was accused had for the most part taken place between September and November 2008, to the detriment of one Carmelo Borg who at the time was serving time at Corradino Correctional Facility for a drug-related offence.

Borg had explained that soon after he was imprisoned, the accused had called him and offered to take care of his affairs while he was inside. Borg had not been able contact his brother on the outside and so accepted the offer. He had handed over the keys to his car and two debit cards, asking the accused to take his Mercedes from the police depot to Corradino and hand over the keys. He also requested the accused to empty Borg’s bank accounts in piecemeal fashion and deliver all the cash to Borg, in prison.

However, the accused never delivered the Mercedes and only delivered half of the cash.

Borg eventually made contact with his brother, John, and asked him to check the padlock on his residence. The padlock had been changed and two laptops, a DVD player and television were all found to be missing. Also missing was a motorcycle that Carmelo would leave in the common area of the residence.

In addition, Carmelo Borg claimed to be missing €60,000 in cash -the proceeds of the alleged sale of 3 buses- which he said were hidden under a gas cylinder.

Borg also alleged that he had made the necessary arrangements to receive unemployment benefits, but that the accused had taken the first cheque, cashed it and kept the money for himself.

John Borg, however, denied all the allegations, explaining in particular that there was nothing under the cylinder, which he found on its side and that he was not finding post in his brother’s letter box.

A certain John Bonnett testified, confirming that he had bought Carmelo Borg’s Mercedes for €250, but that had never received the logbook. In fact, the police soon took the vehicle from him and consigned it to John Borg.

With respect to the theft of the Peugeot, the court held that the fact that the accused had been noted to have been driving through the area the car had been stolen from did not constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt, especially bearing in mind that the accused lived in the area.

The accused had told the police that he had gone to Borg’s residence on five occasions. However, he claimed that what had really happened was that Borg had asked him to supply him with heroin, which was hidden in a washing machine in Borg’s apartment, by throwing them over the prison walls from Gaddafi Gardens. 

He said that the allegations of theft and police reports were a reaction to the fact that he had not delivered the drugs to prison, instead keeping them for himself.

The court noted however, that there was no evidence of the sale of the buses, nor bank deposits of €60,000 in Carmelo Borg’s name. The court felt that there was insufficient evidence to indicate that Borg had that amount of money stolen from his residence, however it was convinced that the accused had stolen the DVD player, laptop and other electronics.

In passing judgment the court found the accused guilty of the theft of over €2,330 in cash and other objects from Borg’s house in Zabbar, theft of a Honda motorcycle, theft of a Mercedes and the theft of social benefit cheques. It, however, held that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the charges of stealing the Peugeot, misappropriating the €410, the defrauding of Carmel Borg and Social Security Department out of €437, receiving stolen property, and of recidivism.

On the last charge, the court noted that it was a well-established doctrine that a probation order is not to be treated as a previous conviction clearing him of that charge.

The magistrate sentenced Brian Pace to 26 months in jail, also ordering him to pay €784 in costs related to the case.