A man who violently robbed an elderly woman at her St Julian’s home 19 years ago has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Keith Cremona, now 36, was 17 years old when he robbed the woman in July 2005.

He was convicted by a criminal court on Tuesday evening, following a two-day trial.

Cremona’s 69-year-old victim has since passed away but her testimony earlier on in the proceedings before the Magistrates’ Court was read out at the first day of the trial.

Benedetta Meilaq recounted how that morning around 9:30am she was quietly cooking in her kitchen when the doorbell rang. She went to the front door. That was the start of her ordeal.

Three strangers, faces uncovered, stood outside. They barged in, pushing her aside and causing her to fall.

The aggressors told her to hand over her money, but the woman said that she had none.

She offered them her gold valuables instead but one of the robbers insisted on cash, saying that he had “two kids” and needed the money.

While two of the intruders rummaged through her possessions, the third suspect, later identified as Cremona, allegedly dragged the woman along the corridor floor, right up to the kitchen where he grabbed a cordless phone and hit her on the head.

He also twisted her right arm so roughly that she suffered a dislocated shoulder. The pain was “agonizing,” the victim later testified.

She also told police the men were armed with a hunting shotgun.

Meilaq told her aggressors about a purse with some money she used to keep at home. They found that purse with some Lm200 (€460) inside. The robbers took the money and fled the scene.

Dazed and in pain, blood dripping from the cut on her head, the victim managed to make it to the front door but collapsed on the porch.

A neighbour heard her cries for help. He went outside and found Meilaq lying on the floor, blood dripping from her head.

Another woman who lived nearby was cleaning her balcony that morning when she heard Meilaq’s cries for help. The neighbour later told police that she had found the elderly victim with “a lot of blood” on her head and torn clothes.

Other neighbours who were questioned by the police shortly after the incident said they heard nothing.

Multiple shortcomings in prosecution's case

None of those neighbours were summoned as witnesses at Cremona’s trial, and nor was the officer in charge of criminal investigations at the time.

Those shortcomings were pointed out by Madam Justice Scerri Herrera when delivering  judgment on Tuesday evening.

Cremona’s trial was assigned to the judge in 2019, but the accused subsequently filed constitutional proceedings. Health issues he suffered further delayed the trial.

The judge noted that attorney general lawyers who were leading the prosecution during the trial were not to blame for “blatant shortcomings”, as they had stepped into the shoes of their predecessors when the bill of indictment had already been issued.

Not summoning the victim’s neighbours and the investigating officer was a “serious shortcoming” in police work, supervised by the AG during the compilation of evidence.

Photos of potential suspects that were shown to the victim years ago were not included in evidence.

Nor did police ask the inquiring magistrate for an identification parade. At the time of the incident, the victim was unable to identify her aggressors, simply describing one of them as “thin.”

No eyewitnesses were produced as witnesses to shed more light on the events of that July morning.

Lacking such evidence, the Criminal Court had to examine the victim’s testimonies given shortly after her ordeal, then at the magisterial inquiry and seven years later during Cremona’s compilation of evidence.

Although there were some divergences, she was consistent in all three versions. Meilaq also identified Cremona in court and said that she still suffered a painful shoulder, a reminder of her ordeal seven years before.

Other forensic evidence, namely four fingerprints lifted from a wooden chest inside Meilaq’s home, were later found to match those of the accused.

Criminal investigations kicked off immediately after the incident but it was years later that police received confidential information about Cremona’s alleged involvement in the crime.

Cremona was subsequently charged in 2012 with aggravated theft, unlawfully holding his victim against her will as well as grievous bodily harm.

He pleaded not guilty, denying the allegations and insisting that he had never been to that St Julian’s residence.

Based on the evidence put forward, the court was convinced that Cremona was one of the three aggressors who assaulted and robbed the victim.

He was declared guilty and condemned to an effective jail term of seven and a half years, after the court also took note of his voluminous record. The prosecution had requested a maximum sentence of 30 years.

He was also ordered to pay €1,255.29 in court expert expenses within six months.

AG lawyers Kevin Valletta and Ramon Bonett Sladden prosecuted.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, David Gatt and Ishmael Psaila were defence counsel.