A former Gozo Channel employee has been convicted of theft and sentenced to 50 hours of community service after he found and hid a package containing cash, only to later return the package unopened, claiming it had been a joke. 

The sentence was handed down by magistrate Joe Mifsud in a case instituted by the police against Joseph Portelli, who has since resigned from the company.

The court heard that Gozo Channel had not filed a police report and had considered this an internal matter but the police launched an investigation following a report on Newsbook.

The case happened on June 25, 2014 when Mr Portelli, then a ticket collector, found a packet containing some €3,000 in a baggage trailer used by employee Emanuel Cremona.

Mr Portelli hid the package in his car.

The money in the package had been collected by ticket seller Rosette Sillato from ferry fares.

Mr Cremona informed his colleagues as soon as he noticed that the package was missing and a search was started.

Mr Portelli was informed about the search and after a considerable time, he brought the package from his car and told Mr Cremona that it had been a joke.

The package had not been opened.

After the police investigations Mr Portelli was accused of theft.

During the collection of evidence one of the witnesses testified that the envelope was returned after the management was informed that Joseph Portelli had been seen on CCTV cameras.

Mr Portelli insisted it had all been a joke on his colleagues.

In its considerations the court said there was no doubt that Mr Portelli had hidden the package in his car when he had no reason to do so and he was silent while his colleagues searched for it.

Even if Mr Portelli’s claim that this was a joke was true, his actions were not justified.

Had the accused wanted to play a joke on his colleague to show him the consequences of leaving such a package unattended, he should have handed the cash to the management immediately, rather than take it to his car.

The magistrate referred to Archbold Magistrates' Court Criminal Practice that: “An honest and reasonable belief that an action is not criminal is no defence, though it may afford considerable mitigation.”

The court said it was of the view that when the accused hid the package in his car, he had committed theft.

In ordering community service, magistrate Mifsud noted that the prosecution had not sought a jail term since the cash was returned on the day without the package having been opened.

 

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