Jailed for stealing jewellery from wife's house

A man was yesterday jailed for 18 months for stealing jewellery from his wife's house three years ago.

Joseph Attard, 30, of Ghaxaq, was found guilty of stealing over Lm500 worth of jewellery from his wife's house but was cleared of relapsing when a magistrate ruled that the police had failed to exhibit previous court convictions in the case proceedings.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard how Mr Attard's wife filed a police report claiming that jewellery had been stolen from her house when there were no signs of a break-in.

She said she suspected her husband had robbed her as he had taken things from the house in the past to sustain his drug habit.

Mrs Attard explained that on November 3, 2003, she returned home and her children started arguing and accusing each other of damaging each other's money boxes.

When their uncle saw the state of one of the boxes he suspected that someone could have broken into the house. So they looked around and noticed that several items, including jewellery and a money box, were missing.

Mrs Attard said that when she went out that day she had left the kitchen door ajar. The fact that there were no signs of a break-in led her to suspect her husband was responsible.

The police called Mr Attard in for questioning and he released a statement in which he admitted taking the jewellery which he had pawned. On handing down judgement, the magistrate noted that Mr Attard had nine convictions on his criminal record and, in light of the circumstances, a jail term was appropriate.

Police Inspector Joseph Agius prosecuted.