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2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 MARCH 2016 News Phone data proves to be burglar's downfall MAT THEW AGIUS MOBILE phones have led to the conviction of a burglar who stole over €25,000 from an elderly couple, after signals from his phone placed him at the scene during the commis- sion of the crime and a picture taken on a neighbour's mobile phone led to his positive iden- tification. 39-year-old Johan Pace had been charged in connection with a February 2008 burglary from a Pieta residence, which was the home of the elderly couple. Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, who was assigned the case upon her appointment to the Bench, was told that a neighbour called the police re- porting a burglary in progress. Police inspector Mario Ton- na, who went to the scene, tes- tified that the couple's front door "had been reduced to splinters." The neighbour had told po- lice that the previous Saturday morning, three days before the burglary, she had seen a suspicious-looking man seated on a bench near the property. She had also spotted the same man at around 9am on the day of the break-in, sitting on the same bench, looking around, mobile phone in hand. Her son had taken a photograph of the man on his mobile phone. The suspicious-looking man had then been observed talk- ing with another man, with whom he had left on foot. The neighbour also gave evi- dence in court, saying that at around 9:15am that morn- ing, she had been hanging the washing on her roof when she heard banging noises. When the noise started getting loud- er she peeped over the ledge to see what was going on in the street below. From her vantage point, she had observed "the same man who had been on the bench... shoving the door open with his shoulder." She had identified the per- son she had seen forcing his way into the house as the per- son in the photograph taken by her son. The accused had been wearing sunglasses and a beanie, which were subse- quently found by the police in a search of Pace's car. The court also heard experts testif y that signals from the accused 's mobile phone had been registered on two cell towers close to the scene of the crime from 9:18am to 10:04am that day. In order to explain the posi- tioning data, the defence had produced Catherine Mackay, the mother of the accused 's infant child, who testified that she would occasionally allow the father to spend time with his child in a nearby public garden. However, the court noted that the woman had not men- tioned this fact to the police during the investigation and that the accused himself had not been able to provide an ex- planation as to his presence in the area, during his interroga- tion by the police. "A person who holds his liberty and innocence dear would certainly not remain silent and subject himself to false and unjust accusations," Magistrate Frendo Dimech re- marked. There had been nothing holding the woman back from discreetly giving the police this version of events, noted the court, pointing out that Mackay herself had testified that she would have frequent telephone conversations with the accused. This indicated that the rela- tionship between them could not have been so bad that Mac- kay would have been prepared to allow the father of her child spend five years accused of a serious crime. Mackay's testimony was deemed not credible by the court, which held that the charges had been sufficiently proven. Pace was found guilty of theft aggravated by means, amount and place, wilful dam- age to property, and relapsing, and handed down a three-year custodial sentence, during which time he was also or- dered to repay the €25,623 he had stolen. The court also imposed a restraining order, preventing Pace from approaching the el- derly couple's and neighbours' families for three years after his release from prison. Egyptian man jailed for threatening to disfigure woman with acid MATTHEW AGIUS A court in Gozo has jailed an Egyptian who threatened to dis- figure with acid the mother of his children if she allowed the chil- dren to attend primary school re- ligion lessons. 40-year-old Marsalforn resi- dent Walid Salah Abdel Motaleb Mohammed was sentenced to 12 months in jail, the court saying it was imposing the maximum punishment possible by law for the charges he had been found guilty of. Mohammed was accused of having attacked the woman at the West End Bar in Xewkija on 6 December last year. He was also charged with damaging her reading glasses, being drunk in public, attacking the woman, and causing her to fear that violence would be used against her. He was also charged with breaching a protection order previously im- posed on him. The woman had testified that the accused had threatened to throw acid at her face if she al- lowed their children to attend religion lessons at school. Magistrate Joe Mifsud, presid- ing the Court of Magistrates in Gozo, noted that the threat was a serious one and that similar ac- tions abroad had led to women being permanently disfigured. The court quoted an address by Pope Francis, highlighting the importance of Christians and Muslims working together to achieve peace and justice, re- marking that the accused's atti- tude was not striving to achieve this goal. Rather, the magistrate argued that such actions "cause unnecessary tensions in society and cast a shadow over the Mus- lim community". The victim's testimony, togeth- er with the accused's behaviour both towards the woman and in court, left Magistrate Mifsud in no doubt. "The court will protect society and the victim by condemning the accused to the maximum punishment permitted by law for the crimes he is being found guilty of," he said. The magistrate urged the au- thorities to "take all the neces- sary steps to avoid having people like the accused running free." He argued that foreign nationals who pose a threat to the safety of the nation and its citizens ought to have their residency permit re- voked before being sent home. The accused, being Egyptian, faced no danger in returning to his country and did not require protection, opined the magis- trate. "Rather it is society which needs protection from the accused," he said. The court sentenced Moham- med to 12 months of detention at Corradino Correctional Facil- ity, also imposing a fine of €2,329 and issuing a three-year protec- tion order in favour of the wom- an. Mohammed's defence lawyer, Jean Paul Grech, has said he will appeal. Bus driver has licence suspended and is fined for running over pedestrian MAT THEW AGIUS A bus driver who ran over a pe- destrian when he ignored a red light in 2009 has been banned from the roads for a year and fined €3,000. A court held Carmel Cassar, 55, responsible for the accident, which left a young woman's face permanently scarred. The pedestrian had been crossing Constitution Street in Mosta on 13 December, 2009, using a pelican crossing near Casa Arkati, when Cassar's bus barrelled into her. The driver was charged with negligent driving, failing to stop at the traffic lights, and failing to keep a proper lookout on the road. As part of the proceed- ings, Magistrate Do- reen Clarke had been shown CCTV footage of what happened. The magistrate held that the victim's only mistake had been her failure to look out for on- coming traffic before stepping out on to the pedestrian cross- ing. However, she pointed out that the pedestrian had the right to cross and the motorist had the obligation to stop at the red light. The woman, who now bears a permanent facial scar, was also medically certified as suffering from lack of sensation on that side of her face as a result of the accident. The court imposed a fine of €3,000 on Cassar and suspend- ed his driving licence for a year.