Suspended jail term for complicity in burglary

A man has been given a three-year jail term suspended for three years for aiding and abetting another two men in burgling a Xewkija house in 1996.

Louis Mifsud was found guilty of complicity in burgling the house of siblings Mikiel and Maria Dolora Vella on May 11, 1996 between 4.45 and 7.30 p.m.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti heard how the burglars broke into the house while the brother and sister were at Mass, after noting the times they left the house.

Mifsud lay in wait outside and was paid Lm600 from the Lm5,000 cash, gold jewellery, bank books and pension cheques and cash removed from the house.

He claimed the other two men had tricked him and he did not know they had gone to burgle the house but Magistrate Grixti ruled that Mifsud had confirmed his complicity by accepting the money.

Police Inspectors Peter Paul Zammit and Paul Vassallo prosecuted.