Thief rescued by police gets suspended jail term

A man who was rescued by the police he was trying to escape from following a theft yesterday was given a two-year jail term, suspended for four years, after filing a guilty plea.

Paul Degabriele, a 41-year-old unemployed man from Fgura, was accused by Inspectors Geoffrey Azzopardi and Anthony Cassar of having stolen Lm277 and of causing wilful damage amounting to under Lm100 to the detriment of the government.

Degabriele was further accused of committing the theft from the Vittoriosa council offices with two unknown accomplices late on Friday night.

The theft took place after one of the burglars scaled a metal grille and climbed over a roof to tamper with a CCTV camera so the crime would not be caught on film.

After breaking into the local council office and rifling through the mayor's office, they were disrupted by a lone policeman on foot patrol, who radioed for back-up. The thieves, realising they were outnumbered and surrounded, tried to flee in different directions.

Degabriele climbed over a wall and when he realised he was hanging over a drop of about five storeys, started to shout for help and pleading with the police to haul him up, which they did.

After Degabriele pleaded guilty yesterday, his lawyers Joseph Giglio and Roberto Montalto said their client wanted to hand back the stolen money as well as pay for the damage and handed over to the prosecution Lm380 in Lm20 notes.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Myriam Hayman, considered the guilty plea as well as the fact that he returned the stolen money and made good for the damage and handed down the suspended sentence.