A man currently serving time in jail for falsely soliciting donations for Dar Tal-Providenza in return for a bogus €5,000 voucher said in court today that it was his girlfriend who abused of his kind-heartedness and forced him to collect money door-to-door.

“She threatened to kill me and throw me in the sea where no one would find me. She kept telling me I would be in trouble if I did not pay her €100 a day. I took none of the money I collected but I passed them on to her and used to buy her things she wanted. I bought her two televisions, one of which a 50-inch Plasma TV, several home ornaments from Dallas 2000 and even a tablet,” Joseph Meilaq, 32, said.

He was testifying before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli in the compilation of evidence against his former partner Graziella Apap, 30, from Siggiewi, who is pleading not guilty to falsely soliciting donations for the charitable institution and defrauding the victims.

When asked, Mr Meilaq said around €8,000 had been collected by the time they were caught. He said Ms Apap only joined him a couple of times for the door-to-door visits and then threatened him and forced him to continue collecting donations on his own.

Mr Meilaq explained that he would knock at people’s houses, telling them they had won a €5,000 voucher if they donated €400 to Dar tal-Providenza. Some of his victims gave him less money, he said.

Mr Meilaq, a garbage collector and street sweeper, said he had met Ms Apap, a  mother-of-three, and eventually befriended her and often went to her apartment. He said that although she had a Syrian boyfriend, she still used to be intimate with him.

He said they used to live together and Ms Apap put pressure on him to collect more funds and give her at least €100 a day from the proceeds, threatening to throw him out of the apartment they shared.

“I am kind-hearted so when she told me that she was paying €450 in rent, I wanted to help her. She needed a washing machine and I was ready to buy it for her but I needed time as I only earned €66 a day,” he said, adding that even bought her a PlayStation 4.

Mr Meilaq said Ms Apap often told him she liked “easy money” and threatened him that she would tell her brothers to kill him.

“My boss and other friends warned me that she would get me into trouble but I did not listen to them. Had I not met her, I would not be in jail today,” a Mr Meilaq said.

On the door-to-door collections, Mr Meilaq said he would knock on doors in Qormi, Rabat, Dingli and, on one occasion, in Gozo.

Asked by the magistrate how much cash had been collected, Mr Meilaq said he could not give a total amount but presumed it was around €8,000.

Mr Meilaq said Ms Apap told him she worked in a massage parlour but always refused to tell him where this was. He also alleged that she often physically attacked him but under cross examination said he never reported the matter to the police as he always forgave her.

The case continues on September 2.

Police Inspector Jonathan Ferris prosecuted while lawyer Valentina Lattughi appeared for the woman.