Woman admits to breaking court-imposed bail conditions

A woman who had failed to sign her bail book for weeks was found hiding under her bed by police officers executing an arrest warrant at her home, a court was told on Monday, with her defence lawyer calling for a wider implementation of electronic tagging.

47-year-old Graziella Debono from Msida, who is on bail pending her appeal against a conviction for stealing valuables from the house she had been paid to clean, is to be sentenced later this week after pleading guilty to having failed to sign her bail book.

During Debono’s arraignment on Monday, police Inspector Paul Camilleri told magistrate Nadia Helena Vella that the woman was on bail, pending an appeal that she had filed herself.  “On 22 March this year, she stopped signing her bail book and for some reason or another, she had not informed the police that she had changed her address.” When the woman failed to attend an appeal sitting because she could not be notified, the judge presiding over the appeal had directed the police to search for her.

After it was noticed that her mobile phone was pinging cellular network masts in the Żabbar area, plainclothes officers had conducted surveillance and identified the address she was residing at, observing her entering a residence. The undercover officers called in uniformed colleagues who arrived and knocked on the residence’s front door. Nobody answered the knock on the door, which was subsequently broken down by the police. Debono and her partner were found hiding under a bed inside the property, said the inspector.

When the woman was asked to enter a plea, her lawyer, Mario Mifsud informed the court that the defendant would be pleading not guilty to the charges.

A police sergeant stationed at Paola was the only witness in the case. He was called to the stand and testified that he had gone, together with other officers, to the residence indicated on the warrant.  “We knocked on the door several times but she never answered.” The officers identified themselves as the police and warned that force would be used to open the door, also without response.

The officers had then proceeded to break down the door, he said. “We found her and her partner hiding under the bed,”  added the officer.

Mifsud asked whether the woman had cooperated with the police. She had, replied the witness, also confirming that the woman had appeared to be lip reading during her arrest, after the lawyer asked whether he was aware that the woman had hearing problems.

Making final submissions, Inspector Camilleri said the woman’s bail book clearly showed that she had not signed it for a month. Both the inspector and the woman’s lawyer had gone beyond the call of duty in their efforts to help her, he said,  adding that when she had moved to Marsascala without informing the police, he had even transferred her bail book to Marsascala. 

As she was not residing at her registered address, she was not being notified with the dates of sittings in her appeal, explained the inspector, requesting a custodial sentence. “Everything shows that she was attempting to escape justice…and besides, she had already been jailed for six months for the same offence.” 

Defence reiterates call for electronic tagging of nonviolent offenders

For the defence, Mifsud pointed out that over the years, Malta had made progress on many fronts, recalling how he and the then prison director Col (retd). Alexander Dalli had been local pioneers in the use of electronic tagging of offenders.

He solicited the government to implement the tracking bracelet system that is currently being trialled, on a wider scale.

“The intention of having a signature on the bail book is more to confirm to the court that she has been notified,” submitted the lawyer.
“Had we invested in tagging , the inspector would have informed the judge that the woman could not be found and after a couple of button presses she would be located,” Mifsud said. “Hiding under a bed is not a crime.”.

Debono’s first conviction had been for stealing a rabbit, he pointed out, stressing the minor nature of her crimes. “She’s not Maria Goretti, granted…but she didn’t sign her bail book once and her brain, instead of telling her to advise her lawyer so we could sort something out [told her to do this]…”

Doctors reluctant to issue certificates for court after sickness certificates scandal - defence lawyer

The lawyer said that another emerging problem was doctors’ reluctance to issue white certificates to people on bail, telling the court that this was “because after it emerged that so many were being falsified, the risk outweighed its worth.”.

“This lady has gone through a lot in her life…she unfortunately made a mistake once, and now the court is being requested to confiscate her €5,500 bail security. The punishment is greater than what she would have received for the original crime.”

“She does not have €5,500. I know that she is struggling, but nonetheless, she has not resorted to theft after her conviction,”  Mifsud submitted.

He said he wanted to reassure the judge who ordered her arrest that she would be present for judgement on Thursday, adding that if she didn’t turn up, her appeal would be deemed abandoned and her original sentence confirmed anyway.

The prosecution did not object to the lawyer’s request that the woman be sentenced after the judgement in her appeal on Thursday. The court upheld the request and adjourned the case to Thursday at 12:00 for sentencing.