A disbarred lawyer has been handed a suspended jail term after a court found him guilty of defrauding a client who had paid him for testamentary searches. 

Although Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that Dr Micallef deserved an effective jail term, especially since he had committed the crime in his role as lawyer, said said the court was suspending the term because of the fact that he had a clean criminal record and because he had reimbursed the entire amount misappropriated. She handed down a 18-month jail term suspended for four years. 

Last May, Dr Micallef received another two-year jail sentence suspended for four years after a court found him guilty of defrauding a client, using the money as a bank guarantee for a loan he had taken out.

On that occasion, Dr Micallef had faced a total of 12 charges, including that of defrauding a pensioner out of €25,600, misappropriation and forging documents.

In the latest case, Dr Micallef was convicted of defrauding neighbour Martha Sammut who had commissioned him to carry out legal searches on her uncle's will, to determine whether she had been entitled to any inheritance. 

Ms Sammut told the court that she had paid him every time he asked for money and had also borrowed money from third parties to keep up with his monetary demands. Despite the payments, the results of the searches were never handed over for one reason or another, including that Dr Micallef was sick. It was only after she involved another two lawyers that the amount was refunded slowly. 

In handing down judgment, Magistrate Scerri Herrera noted that Dr Micallef's criminal action cast a bad light on the legal profession and that his actions were "censorable". On the other hand, she considered that the amount had been refunded. 

Police Inspector Jonathan Ferris prosecuted while lawyer Noel Bianco was defence counsel.