Jailed after being caught red-handed, breaking into elderly woman's home

A 39-year-old man from Pieta has been jailed for seven months and fined €400 after he was found guilty, together with another man, of breaking into an elderly woman’s home in Zebbug in 2013.

Police reacted to a report of two persons acting suspiciously in Triq il-Mithna and fiddling with a green door.

Officers arriving at the scene found the door locked, but with fresh scratches on it.

One police sergeant peeked through the letterbox and kicked the door down, finding the accused, Christopher Scerri, holding a screwdriver and another man, Mario Camilleri peeling off a pair of socks from over his hands.

Scerri and Camilleri were arrested near the scene, in a car belonging to a third party, after the sergeant had found the interior of the woman's home ransacked.

The elderly owner returned from Mass and told police that she had locked the door. She did not find any items missing, however.

The men were prosecuted separately.

In a sentence handed down today, Scerri was found guilty of attempted theft. In her considerations on sentencing, Magistrate Josette Demicoli took into account the man’s previous convictions and breaches of suspended sentences and bail conditions and handed him a seven month prison sentence, together with a €400 fine.

Inspector Fabian Fleri prosecuted.

The men were prosecuted separately.

The court ruled that the evidence proved the charge of attempted theft and with it, the aggravating factors of means and place, as it was a dwelling place that had been broken into.

The attempt was not aggravated by value, however, due to lack of evidence.

Scerri was found guilty of attempted theft.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli took into account the man’s previous convictions and breaches of suspended sentences and bail conditions.

He was handed a seven month prison sentence together with a €400 fine.

Inspector Fabian Fleri prosecuted.