Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517369
A cleaner has been jailed for 20 months and ordered to pay €5,000 for stealing gold and jewellery from a house that she had been paid to clean. 47-year-old Graziella Debono from Raġal Ġdid, who has had previous run-ins with the law, had been arrested in November 2020 and charged with aggra- vated theft and recidivism, by police inspectors Jeffrey Sciclu- na and Paul Camilleri. When questioned by the po- lice, Debono, who worked as a domestic cleaner, had admitted to having stolen the jewellery from a residence she would clean, on her last day providing her services to the victim. Although the woman had confessed during her interro- gation, she had then denied the charges in court and was re- leased on bail, only to be con- demned to imprisonment for six months in January 2021 for breaching both the conditions of her release on those charges, as well as conditions relating to another case. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit noted that the best evidence in this case was the statement that the woman had released to the police, after having been given all her legal rights. In that statement, she had admitted to stealing the items and later, selling them to a jew- eller for €1,135. A court-appointed jeweller had subsequently valued the stolen items at €5,325. The court also noted that she had failed to pay back the value of the stolen items, despite her being afforded several oppor- tunities to do so. Proceedings had been dragged out in order to give Debono time to pay up, said the court, "but the defendant did not try to start paying part of the sum due and instead tried to use every possible excuse to come across as the victim herself." This, together with her previ- ous convictions for very similar crimes, led the court to con- clude that she offered no peace of mind that she would ever compensate the victim unless she was handed a prison sen- tence. 16 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 MARCH 2024 NEWS ACROSS 1) Talk disrespectfully to 5) Venomous black snake 10) Large dining room 14) Lake view from Toledo 15) Certain graduate exams 16) Digits in eleven 17) Having many of your group attending 20) Watts of the movies 21) Plains shelters of old (Var.) 22) Brought to maturity 25) Predator's quarry 26) Exact revenge on 29) Sustaining an injury 31) Monotony 35) Pub quaff 36) Fish by dragging nets 38) Europe's tallest active volcano 39) Offer a person encour- agement, in a way 43) Nut used in soft drinks 44) Number of deadly sins 45) Cambridge school 46) Batter's position 49) Pushing up daisies 50) Swine spot 51) Gets decked in 53) Cowboy-boot attach- ment 55) Place out of sight 58) What strikers want 62) Rich 65) La Douce in a film 66) El ___ (Spanish painter) 67) Young Michael Jackson feature 68) Recover from a sprint 69) "For" words 70) Alternatives to pumper- nickels DOWN 1) Secured with a needle 2) A, in geometry 3) Airtight storage tower 4) Historic Alabama city 5) Name for a stooge 6) Renowned Dadaist Jean 7) Mini-market 8) Electronic censor 9) Say with confidence 10) Winter melon 11) Penny bet 12) Some popular jeans 13) You'll trip if you drop it 18) Some are civil 19) Olympic event 23) Money in Madrid 24) Small drinks of liquor 26) Stares conspicuously 27) "Silas Mamer" novelist 28) Car model that doesn't require gas 30) Coarse wool fabric 32) Entries in a list 33) Like fresh matches 34) Like some beers 37) Misery-company link 40) Applause part 41) Minimum-range tide 42) Bear up under 47) Business name abbr. 48) Einstein's "E" 52) Keep in the warehouse 54) Speeder's trap 55) Immunization fluids 56) Stately trees 57) Nights before 59) Far from certain 60) Needing liniment 61) Young winged god of the Greeks 62) Purchased hair? 63) Cooler contents, often 64) Spanish couple? F Solution to last week's crossword The answers to today's crossword will be published in next week's Midweek edition Weather Fine with high clouds becoming rather cloudy by evening Visibility Good Wind West Southwest force 3 to 4 locally force 4 to 5 becoming force 4 to 5 locally force 5 to 6. TOMORROW Crossword WEATHER WINDY 18 0 / 10 0 TODAY WINDY 17 / 11 0 FEELS LIKE 18 0 FEELS LIKE 18 0 MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt Domestic cleaner jailed for stealing jewellery from client's house