A pregnant woman arrested on suspicion of robbing a Sliema residence claimed innocence but then shot herself in the foot by naively saying it was a 92-year-old in Birżebbuġa that she had robbed.
She even turned into an informer when she named her accomplices in that robbery.
Donna Sciberras, a 20-year-old drug addict who is three months pregnant, was yesterday sentenced to nearly three years in jail by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, who recommended that she start a drug rehabilitation programme.
Police Inspector John Spiteri said that, when Ms Sciberras was arrested over the Sliema case, she told police she had nothing to do with it but had committed a robbery at Birżebbuġa.
She also told police who her two accomplices were – one of them being her boyfriend, Andrea Busuttil.
The Birżebbuġa theft took place early in the morning on June 9 in Alexander Street. The old woman was targeted because Ms Sciberras’s mother, Josette Pisani, often went to her house to clean, the court heard.
Ms Pisani is still being investigated over her involvement after her daughter said it was her mother who had tipped her off on the woman as a possible target, Inspector Spiteri said.
Her share from the robbery was about €2,000
Ms Sciberras admitted to stealing thousands of euros in cash and jewellery, holding the woman against her will, threatening a police inspector, failing to abide by police bail conditions and relapsing.
Inspector Spiteri said the elderly woman told police that between €200 and €400 were stolen during the robbery. She said the doorbell rang and she opened without checking who it was.
The robbers, three in all, pushed her inside and demanded money, which she handed over.
But during their investigation, Ms Sciberras told the police that her share from the robbery was about €2,000, putting another twist to the investigation.
Inspector Saviour Baldacchino, who is also prosecuting, said one of the robbers grabbed a gold chain being worn by the elderly woman and pushed her onto the bed as they were leaving the residence. Inspector Spiteri said the police investigations revealed that the three robbers were hooded but Ms Sciberras shook her head as she stood in the dock.
At the end of the sitting, defence counsel Leontine Calleja said her client was changing her plea and wanted to admit the charges brought against her. She requested a punishment below the minimum, given her state of health and her pregnancy.
But Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said Ms Sciberras was not a first-time offender and had been given several opportunities to reform.
Dr Calleja said her client did not use violence on the old woman and did not know the robbery “was going to escalate” to that degree.
The inspectors told the court that Ms Sciberras had cooperated with the investigation and had helped identify accomplices who will also face criminal proceedings.
The magistrate jailed Ms Sciberras for two years and eight months and recommended that she be kept at the Forensic Ward at Mount Carmel Hospital.
One of the alleged accomplices, Mr Busuttil, 27, from Sliema, is currently in preventive custody after being charged with jumping into the sea to prevent his arrest on August 5.