Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/683529
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MAY 2016 News Debtors falsely accuse friend with usury in bid to clear debt MATTHEW AGIUS A family's nefarious plan of ac- cusing a friend of usury to avoid repaying €8,800 they had bor- rowed from her has been foiled by the courts. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit heard how Raymond Bonnici's partner, Doris Vella, had borrowed a succession of small amounts from the accused, Josephine Scerri, building up a credit of Lm3,700 (€8,618.67), which Vella was repaying at the rate of €400 per month. Scerri did not charge any interest on the loans. From Bonnici's testimony, which the court described as "confused and incoherent," it emerged that his partner had borrowed a €6,380 from the accused before 2010 and had signed a document to this effect. In a document dated May 2010, Vella had borrowed €8,880 from Scerri. Vella had told the court that, in actual fact, it had been her moth- er who borrowed an amount unknown to the witness, who, "however was conveniently con- vinced that the amount included interest on the interest." But the woman's version started to crumble after a representative from the Department of Social Security confirmed that Vella had always benefited from Social Security handouts, contradict- ing Vella's claim that she had not always made her monthly repay- ments because her benefits had not been paid. Doris Vella had taken the wit- ness stand as parte civile. She claimed to have borrowed some money from the accused in the past, but when she had then bor- rowed a further €3,700 from her, the accused had started charging interest on the interest. How- ever, Vella was unable to recall the year the loan was made or how much she had repaid. All she could remember was that she was paying €400 per month, she said, also conveniently forgetting the final sum she was due to re- pay. Casting further doubt on the credibility of her story, the moth- er contradicted her daughter's testimony by saying that she was always alone with the accused when handing over cheques. Scerri's testimony gave an al- together different picture, how- ever. Vella and she had been friends, she said. Vella would of- ten borrow things or cash from her and would return them in due course. On one occasion, Doris' daugh- ter Graziella had approached the accused and asked for a loan to prevent their electricity supply from being disconnected due to them being significantly in ar- rears. The daughter had requested €6,380, which the accused had agreed to lend her out of pity. The two women had signed an agreement stipulating the loan to be without interest and repay- able in monthly instalments of €400. Subsequently, Doris Vella had called upon the accused and asked for a further loan of €2,500 to pay a fine which had been in- curred by her partner. They agreed to join the two loans into one loan of €8,880, repayable in monthly instalments of €600, signing a second private writing to this effect. The court pointed out that the offence of usury occurred when the interest rate on a loan ex- ceeded 8% and noted that there had been no interest charged in this case. What emerged most clearly, said the court, were Bon- nici's manoeuvres. In spite of him not being directly involved in the case, Bonnici appeared to know more of the facts than the borrowers. "When these two had grown tired of getting into debt with the accused, whom they had found convenient, and upon see - ing their outstanding total go- ing up by a considerable amount to the point that they could not repay, they decided to fabricate a story about the accused that would wipe out their debts." Josephine Scerri was declared innocent of all charges and re- leased. Teenage drug addict jailed for attacking mother and brother MATTHEW AGIUS A troubled 16-year-old boy who is addicted to synthetic drugs has been jailed for three months after he admitted in court to attacking his mother and younger brother, slightly injuring the latter. Magistrate Charmaine Galea heard Inspector John Spi- teri charge the teen, who is not being named by order of the court on account of his age, with attacking his family members, injuring his brother and insulting his mother. He was also charged with breach- ing his bail conditions and a probation order. Two social workers from Ap- pogg and the youth's probation officer were present at his ar- raignment. The probation officer ex- plained how the accused had been placed under a care order aged 10, as he could not live with his mother. But his chal- lenging behaviour saw the boy being sent back to his mother after no facility was found suited to keep him. The officer noted that the boy's home en- vironment did him no favours. The youth, who is also un- der a provisional supervision order from the juvenile court, had been treated for a time at Mount Carmel Hospital. Dur- ing his time there some aspects of his behaviour had improved enough for him to be sent back to his family home, said the of- ficer, but more incidents had ensued after his return. The probation officer said that the boy was suffering from an addiction to synthetic drugs, for which he was receiv- ing treatment. "I fear that if he is sent home again, the drug abuse would resume," said the officer, add- ing that various treatment op- tions were being discussed, including housing him at Dar Hosanna Pia. But until this is finalised, he will be living with his family. "Presently there are no struc- tures in Sedqa to help 16-year- old drug addicts," the officer said. Discussions with the agency were underway, said the of- ficer, but he admitted that he was "not 100% sure that he would be accepted into a pro- gramme." The accused had been treated for ADHD as a child but had gradually stopped taking his medication, he added. The witness explained that the accused would find "im- mense difficulty" to attend his appointments with a psycholo- gist. "His life is not structured. The last school year he at- tended was Form 1," the proba- tion officer explained. A pro- gramme to assist young people in finding work had been sug- gested but the lack of structure in his life meant that he did not attend appointments often. Legal aid lawyer Francienne Abela pleaded guilty, telling the court that the boy want- ed to turn his life around – a statement that the probation officer wholeheartedly agreed with. Inspector Spiteri said that this case was one of the rare occasions where the defence and the prosecution were in agreement. "It is in the inter- est of safeguarding society that this individual receives treat- ment and that his problems are tackled sequentially." A guilty plea was filed, as a result of which the 16 year-old was sentenced to three months in prison. "You will be helped in these three months," warned the magistrate. "If you don't coop- erate you will be seeing a lot of these courts. You have already had a taste of prison and... if you don't want to go there again you have to behave." A protection order was issued in favour of the boy's mother and brother. His €2,000 per- sonal guarantee was confis- cated. Lying second-hand car dealer ordered to refund price or face prison MATTHEW AGIUS INSPECTOR Yvonne Farrugia charged Christian Saliba with misappropriating the payment he had received for the purchase of a vehicle from the UK. Saliba had told the victim that he was planning on importing another vehicle for himself and had suggested that when the vehicles were ready to make the overland journey to Malta, he would meet the victim in the UK and they would drive down together. After approving a car to be delivered, the victim had trans- ferred the full price of €17,750 to a bank account belonging to the accused's mother. But after his questions regard- ing the delays in delivery were met with a series of excuses the buyer had gone to the accused's house, only to find that, far from being in the UK making arrange- ments, the accused was still in Malta. He had been told that his car was in Sicily, but the buyer, sus- pecting it to be another one of the accused's yarns, had asked Saliba to sign a document bind- ing him to either deliver the vehicle or return the payment in full. Saliba instead asked to be allowed to repay the man in monthly instalments of €250, but the buyer had rejected this offer and filed a report with the police. In handing down judgement, Magistrate Doreen Clarke took into account the fact that an im- mediate prison sentence would not help the victim get his money back and so handed down a two year prison sentence, suspended for four, adding the condition that failure to repay the full amount within a month would render the sentence effective.