Tough sentence handed to drug-addicted armed robber

A man from Senglea has been sentenced to nearly eight  years in prison after he admitted to a string of eleven thefts, some of them violent. 

Frankie Pace, 41, stole photographic equipment, jewellery and cash from residences and garages in Marsaskala, Kalkara, Zabbar, Fgura and Zejtun as part of his month-long crime spree which ended earlier this week. 

The man’s charges include theft aggravated by violence, means and value. 

Inspectors Lydon Zammit, Stephen Gulia and Sarah Zerafa, told Magistrate Ian Farrugia how two women had gone to the police claiming to have been robbed at knifepoint.  

They identified Frankie Pace during the investigation. Pace was arrested in Senglea on Wednesday and it was immediately apparent to the police that he had been spoken to over a number of other thefts. 

The accused had told the police that he had only been out of the Corradino Correctional Facility for a few months when he fell back into drug abuse. Pace admitted to having carried out a number of other thefts. He showed the police the places where the thefts took place. Police had a detailed description of every item stolen given by the accused, Inspector Zammit said this afternoon. “A total admission.” 

Pace pleaded guilty to the charges. 

The court after seeing the man’s guilty plea, sentenced him to imprisonment for 7 years and 9 months. The accused stood motionless as his sentence was handed down. 

The court admonished the man before he was led away. “If you want to do a drug rehab program properly, do it. I think the time has come for you to stop being passive and doing nothing for your own good, to stop. Either you are going to do nothing and carry on like you have done in the past or turn over a new leaf. It’s up to you.”