Woman handed suspended sentence for thefts, pledges to leave Malta

A Bulgarian woman, found in possession of stolen jewellery belonging to a couple who had given her shelter, has promised to leave the islands for good by tomorrow after she admitted to charges of handling stolen goods in court earlier today.

In addition to the stolen goods charges, Krasimira Dimitrova, 32, was also accused of causing a disturbance whilst intoxicated, breaching the public peace, using obscene words or gestures in public and insulting and threatening to throw hard objects at a companion in Marsaxlokk earlier this month.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale was told by Inspectors Johann Fenech and Charlotte Curmi that the woman had ended up on the streets after fighting with her boyfriend. She had been given shelter by a kindly couple, who later reported her to the police after they noticed some items of costume jewellery had gone missing. The missing items were understood to have been found in Dimitrova’s possession.

The alcohol-related disturbance was not elaborated on in court.

The accused pleaded guilty to the charges.

Despite appearing bubbly before the sitting, Dimitrova was sombre as she apologised for any problems she might have caused to the police.

“I take responsibility for what I’ve done,” she said.

Defence lawyer Shaheryar Ghaznavi told the court that his client has resided in Malta for over 10 years and had a job in Valletta. The incident was completely out of character, he said, pointing out that the woman had no previous run-ins with the law in her decade living here.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, after giving the accused time to reconsider her guilty plea and having seen the evidence and heard the defence’s submissions, found Dimitrova guilty and condemned her to six months imprisonment suspended for two years.

“In 24 hours I will be out of the country and I will never come back,” the woman said earnestly, after her sentence was pronounced - prompting the magistrate to clarify that he was not asking her to leave the islands.

Lawyers Helen Caruana and Shaheryar Ghaznavi were defence counsel to Dimitrova.