Two people posing as collectors for Id-Dar tal-Providenza bought a 50-inch flat-screen television and a PlayStation 4 console with the donations, a court heard yesterday.
The donations were solicited by Joseph Meilaq, 32, and his former partner Graziella Apap, 30.
Mr Meilaq, who is currently serving time in jail for soliciting the donations, told Magistrate Audrey Demicoli that it was his girlfriend who abused his kindness and threatened him so as to collect money door-to-door.
Mr Meilaq was testifying in the compilation of evidence against his former partner, a mother of three from Siġġiewi, who is pleading not guilty to soliciting donations for the charitable institution and defrauding the victims, most of whom were elderly.
“She threatened to kill me and throw me into 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,” he said.
I am kind-hearted, so when she told me that she was paying €450 in rent, I wanted to help her
Mr Meilaq insisted he took none of the money collected but passed it on to Ms Apap. “I used to buy her things she wanted. I bought her two televisions, one of which was a 50-inch plasma TV, several home ornaments from Dallas 2000 and even a tablet.”
Asked by the magistrate how much cash had been collected, Mr Meilaq said he could not provide a total amount but said it must have been around €8,000.
Mr Meilaq explained that he would knock on people’s doors, telling them they had won a €5,000 voucher if they donated €400 to Id-Dar tal-Providenza. Some of his victims had given him less money, he said.
Mr Meilaq, a garbage collector and street sweeper, said he had met Ms Apap 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, while threatening to throw him out of the apartment.
“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.
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,” Mr Meilaq said, a tone of sadness in his voice.
On the door-to-door collections, Mr Meilaq said he would knock on doors in Qormi, Rabat, Dingli and, on one occasion, in Gozo.
Mr Meilaq said Ms Apap told him she worked in a massage parlour but always refused to tell him where it was.
The case continues on September 2.
Police inspector Jonathan Ferris prosecuted, while lawyer Valentina Lattughi appeared for the woman.