A man has been ordered to return his mother’s life savings after a court found he had deceived her into signing a document that gave everything to him.

The signing took place without her knowledge of its contents and also behind the backs of his four siblings, the court heard.

The son and his wife had even placed the woman in a home for the elderly against her will and without telling anyone else.

Details of the shocking case emerged in a case instituted by 88-year-old Giuseppa Camilleri against one of her five children, John Camilleri, a former police officer, and his wife Antoinette.

The First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, found that Mr Camilleri had deceived his elderly mother into signing a contract of donation by inducing her to believe that he was taking her to a notary to confirm the inheritance agreement she had signed with her late husband.

By virtue of the deed, Mr Camilleri acquired all his mother’s immovable property. The court heard that just a month after the woman had moved into her son’s home, he informed his siblings that their mother had given him full power of attorney to manage her estate.

Court ordered rescission of the contract of donation on grounds of deceit and the return of the funds with interests

His siblings found it strange since their mother had always wanted two of them to manage her estate, to ensure there was an element of control.

The court heard how Mr Camilleri carefully planned the signing of the deed of donation to ensure the fewest possible hurdles. He contacted the notary a while before and prepared all the groundwork for the signing to proceed as smoothly as possible.

Ms Camilleri told the court that she never intended to donate all her property to her son since she loved her five children equally and wanted all her estate and life savings to be distributed equally.

She said her son had told her that he needed to take her to the notary to confirm the will she had signed with her late husband. She said she had specifically asked whether the inheritance agreement would still stand and had been given assurances.

The court found that the version of events given by Giuseppa Camilleri was credible as it was also corroborated by other evidence including the testimony of psychiatrist Joseph Vella Baldacchino.

He testified that when Mr Camilleri had taken his mother to his clinic for an examination just before the contract, the deed of donation was never mentioned.

It also resulted that soon after the contract of donation, Mr Camilleri had gone to the local HSBC branch and used the power of attorney to withdraw practically all his mother’s savings leaving her with a balance of only €33 in her bank account.

The court found that the Camilleri couple gave conflicting versions, including on why the money had been withdrawn.

They claimed that this was to compensate them for services rendered but it resulted that they were already in receipt of the mother’s pension. Furthermore, nobody is entitled to compensate himself unilaterally without court approval, the court noted.  

The Court of Appeal presided over by Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi, Mr Justice Tonio Mallia and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef rejected the appeal filed by the son and his wife, also throwing out their plea that their mother was not in a mental position to fight the court case.

The court ordered the rescission of the contract of donation on grounds of deceit and the return of all the elderly mother’s funds with interests and costs against the defendants. 

Separate proceedings against the couple filed by Catherine Pace, who suffered the same fate as her sister Giuseppa Camilleri, are still pending.

Lawyer Paul Cachia represented Giuseppa Camilleri.