Acquitted of stealing €18,600 from l-Imniehru's house

The ex-boyfriend of murdered drug baron Mario Camilleri’s daughter has been acquitted of assisting her in the theft of over €18,600 from her mother – a crime for which she had escaped prosecution because of her mother's forgiveness.

Sarah Camilleri, the daughter of l-Imniehru, had disappeared, taking with her taken Lm6,000 (€13,976) “from over Lm30,000” (€69,881) stashed in her parents’ cash box.

Luke Farrugia, who at the time was 17, allegedly had asked her for a further Lm2,000, which she also later provided. 

Together, Farrugia and Camilleri had been charged with the theft that took place in March 2005. Farrugia had been accused of complicity in, and enjoying the proceeds of the theft of cash from a moneybox owned by Mario and Mona Camilleri.

The amount of cash was kept at home to pay for her father’s bail.

Drug kingpin Mario Camilleri was murdered in Qajjenza in July 2013 together with his son Mario Jr.

Camileri’s brother-in-law, Jason Galea, and the latter’s half-brother George, are accused of the murder.

In a sitting last year, Police Superintendent Carmelo Bartolo had told the court how Luke Farrugia came to be accused of complicity in the aggravated theft and receiving stolen goods after Sarah Camilleri had disappeared, together with an amount of cash kept at home to pay for her father’s bail.

Luke Farrugia, the court was told, went on “a shopping spree” and bough meals, running shoes and a puppy. The police had searched the couple’s residence. Although the cash was not found, a constable had reported seeing a Pug.

Sarah Camilleri had given the police and the court conflicting versions of what happened, initially blaming the theft on a third party, but later implicating Farrugia, saying that he had been present at her parents' home as she had helped herself to the cash that was kept in a drawer.

In her second version of events, she had said that the accused had needed money after a car accident with a third party.

Under oath, she had told the court that she had handed Farrugia Lm8,000 (€18,635) and that the third person had taken the remaining Lm28,000 (€65,222) of the missing sum.

Farrugia had consistently denied any involvement in the theft or ever receiving any money from her.

In her closing submissions last September, defence lawyer Giannella De Marco had savaged the girl’s credibility, saying Sarah Camilleri was the antithesis of a reliable witness and had given three completely different accounts to police before claiming to have acted on the accused’s instructions. Camilleri's parents had forgiven her for her part in the theft and had refused to press charges.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia found for the defence and cleared Farrugia of the charges after noting that Sarah Camilleri's many different versions of events, together with inconsistencies by the prosecution's witnesses did not help her credibility and led the court to harbour a “persistent doubt” as to the guilt of the accused.