Qormi burglary getaway driver spared jail time on appeal
Court converts prison term to suspended sentence due to accused's drug history
A man who served as the getaway driver during a burglary in Qormi has been spared time in jail provided he stays clean of drugs.
Brian Agius was originally sentenced to three years in prison after a court convicted him of being an accomplice to aggravated theft, as well as a further year in prison for committing a crime while under the terms of a suspended sentence.
Agius drove a group of thieves to and from a residence on Triq il-Vitorja during a burglary in March 2021.
He filed an appeal against the original court’s sentence, challenging evidence presented against him and claiming his crime was fuelled by a drug addiction he has since overcome.
Agius claimed he had no idea he was acting as a getaway driver and thought he was just giving the criminal ringleader a ride.
A court of appeal presided by Judge Edwina Grima was unconvinced by Agius’s pleas of ignorance, highlighting various inconsistencies between his testimony, CCTV evidence and what he told police after being arrested.
The court found more justification in his second ground for appeal, noting that a drug rehabilitation board concluded in April 2025 that Agius had completed addiction treatment and rehabilitated himself.
It therefore converted his original jail term into a two-year sentence, suspended for four years. The court also chose to strike off the one-year jail term served on him for breaching a previous suspended sentence, and instead reset the suspended sentence’s 18-month operative period.
Agius be monitored by a probation officer for the duration of that suspended term. He was also ordered to pay €879.57 in fees related to the case.
The defendant was represented by lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Adreana Zammit.