Three men who barged into a woman’s home in broad daylight, making off with her valuables and robbing her of her “psychological serenity for life,” were convicted and jailed on Thursday.

Mark Anthony Cardona, 42, Ryan Briffa, 29, and Patrick Mangion, 47, were convicted of aggravated theft, holding their victim against her will, slightly injuring her and bearing a weapon without the necessary police licence.

The 58-year old woman had answered a knock at the door of her Qormi home, at around 1pm on a January afternoon last year. A waistcoated stranger, wearing a white cap, told her she had a parcel.

Wondering aloud who the sender could be, the unsuspecting victim opened the door.

As she chatted to the stranger, she was suddenly pushed indoors as two men stormed inside, one of them knee-butting her on the hip.

Her struggles to resist her aggressors proved in vain.

The woman’s feet were bound tightly together, as the fake ‘postman’ held a knife against her throat, warning her to keep quiet or else they would kill her.

“All we want is some money for drugs,” said one of the robbers, wearing a cotton mask.

A third man kept watch over the victim while the other two ransacked her home, making off with jewellery as well as cash, including €1400 meant to pay for a
tombstone and another €700 put aside for holy masses.

The suspects were ultimately tracked down through CCTV footage and other evidence, including the woman’s description of her masked aggressors.

When delivering judgment the court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, observed that clothes found in possession of Cardona and Briffa, matched those worn by the suspects.

The personal stature of the alleged culprits also tallied with that seen on the footage.

On the basis of all evidence put forward the court declared the accused guilty.
When analyzing Briffa’s criminal history, the court observed that a disturbing picture emerged, indicating that the man had learnt nothing through previous times spent behind bars.

His record was “an encyclopedia of crimes,” remarked the court, noting that Briffa manifested an “I don’t care” attitude towards law and authority. 

The other accused, Mangion, also presented a voluminous criminal record, had turned his back on several chances to reform, and had not merely robbed the elderly woman but had also gagged her with duct tape, stifling her chances to seek help.

As for Cardona, who appeared to have a loving family, the court said it failed to understand how he had engaged in such “cowardly and cruel deed” that had robbed the victim of her psychological serenity for life.

The court condemned Cardona to a 7-year jail term, whilst the other two were handed a 7-and-a-half year jail term each. Briffa also forfeited a €10,000 bail bond, while Mangion forfeited a bail bond of €5,000.

Inspectors Fabian Fleri, Lydon Zammit and Roderick Agius prosecuted.