Ex-policeman who stole dashboard handed community service order

A former police constable who stole a dashboard from a parked vehicle has been placed on probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to the theft.

50-year-old Joseph Farrugia from Gozo was identified as the man who removed the dashboard of an Isuzu parked in the Xewkija Industrial
Estate last October. Farrugia admitted to charges of aggravated theft as well as to having committed a crime which he had been duty-bound to prevent.

Magistrate Joseph Mifsud declared the accused guilty on his own admission. In his judgment on the matter, the magistrate stressed that members of all disciplinary corps were to serve as an example to society.

Police officers, members of the armed forces, civil protection officers and even wardens, regardless of rank, were to act as law-abiding citizens and also model their life upon “sound moral values,” added the court.

The court pointed out that person could go through a rough patch in life, which could lead to acts which, as happened here, “cast a shadow
upon a thirty-year career within the police corp.”

Rather than buckle under the pressure of public opinion, the court said it chose to reaffirm its belief in reparative justice, and placed the guilty party under a 3-year Probation Order and a 200-hour community service order, recommending that this be served at the Arka Foundation of Ghajnsielem.

Police Inspectors Josef Gauci and Mario Xiberras prosecuted. Lawyer Anton Refalo was defence counsel.