Man guilty of stealing from his employer to repay loan from same company

A 33-year-old deliveryman has been handed a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to stealing from his employer to repay a loan he had obtained from the employer himself.

Charlot Camilleri, from Tarxien, appeared before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit this morning, charged with aggravated theft and causing damage to property.

The accused was the picture of contrition as he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Prosecuting police inspector John Spiteri told the court that the accused, who at the time was working for Aquatess Marketing, had been in debt to the company and decided to steal from the same employer to repay his debt.

The court asked what had happened to the stolen money. €1,000 had been repaid, said the inspector, out of the total €2,400 debt owed to his employer.

The magistrate noted that there appeared to be a pattern of petty crime in his criminal record, a fact which defence lawyer Roberta Spiteri attributed to the accused’s unhappy childhood.

The prosecution objected to the defence’s request for probation, on the grounds that he had been given probation orders in the past and persisted in reoffending. The court upheld the objection.

After the accused's cousin offered to step in as guarantor for the debt, Spiteri asked the court to allow the accused a six month peremptory period to repay, which was granted. Camilleri was handed a two-year jail sentence, suspended for four, and ordered to repay the outstanding amount within six months. 

The court made it amply clear to the accused that failure to repay within the six-month period would constitute a criminal offence in itself.