A cleaner who stole €5,000 worth of jewellery from the family she worked for was condemned to a 20-month effective jail term after admitting to the theft in court on Tuesday. 

Graziella Debono, 47, of Paola, was charged with aggravated theft and recidivism, with her employers saying that on the last days of her employment, she left with several valuables from their house. 

One of the victims testified that she had been looking up Facebook for someone to clean her house and the accused was one of several who had popped up. She hired her to clean her house once a week on Fridays.  On occasions, no one was in the house while she was cleaning.

Debono, the victim said, typically went to the house with nothing but her mobile phone and her purse. They had suspected nothing until they opened a seldom-used drawer and found several pieces of family jewellery missing. 

It was after that discovery that the victim recalled that on the last three occasions that she had gone to their house, Debono had been uncharacteristically carrying a handbag. 

After becoming suspicious she asked Debono to call on a Saturday instead of a Friday, so she would be able to watch over her. Debono replied that she had fallen from a three-storey height and injured her leg and would no longer be able to attend to the job. 

A police investigation later revealed that Debono had sold the stolen items to a jeweller for €1,135. They were valued by a court expert at €5,000.

The court considered the fact that the accused had in 2021 already been condemned to a six-month jail term as well as a fine for similar charges and that despite being given several opportunities, she had made no attempt to pay back what she owed to the victims. 

“The court feels that the accused can offer no assurances of paying back the parte civile if she had to be given a sentence that does not include incarceration,” Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit said in her judgment. 

“Throughout these procedures, which have been ongoing for some time, she has had ample time to pay them back, but she has not even tried, instead coming up with one excuse after another to paint herself as the victim!”. 

Considering her “colourful” criminal record as well as her own admission, the court found Debono guilty of all the charges and sentenced her to a 20-month jail term. She was given a year to pay back her victims €5,000.