A mother previously charged with fraud landed in fresh trouble after allegedly stealing a cheque book, then writing out cheques to pay a pharmacy bill and buy catamaran tickets for 12 people who realised only to late that they had been swindled. 

The 40-year old woman from Marsaxlokk was denied bail upon arraignment on Thursday afternoon but was granted a temporary ban on publication of her name after her lawyer requested it to safeguard the woman’s minor child, expected to attend a school leaving ceremony on Friday. 

The rather unusual ban came at the end of a hearing during which the court heard how the police began to investigate the case after a woman turned up at the Żejtun police station to report suspected wrongdoing. 

She had received a call from a local bank after two cheques, apparently issued under her signature, had been referred to drawer. 

One was for €270, payable to a Gudja pharmacy, the other was for an amount exceeding €2,000, payable to Virtu Ferries. 

The cheques had bounced because the bank noticed some discrepancy in the drawer’s signature. 

Within minutes of filing that report, the woman returned to the police station, saying that the accused had admitted that she had taken the cheque book from the owner’s house and had written out those cheques. 

But she promised to refund the money and begged her not to escalate matters. 

Police later checked CCTV footage at the ferry company’s booking office and confirmed that it was indeed the accused who had paid for tickets for 12 passengers. 

The money for those tickets had allegedly been handed to her by a third party who had collected it from the group and entrusted her to make the reservations for the trip to Sicily. 

They were later informed that the booking was on hold because the cheque had bounced, explained prosecuting Inspector Jonathan Cassar.

The suspect later declared that she had thrown away the cheque book. 

She had answered no questions during interrogation except to say that she “was willing to refund in full”.

In fact, her father had provided her with the money to do so, her lawyer, Noel Bianco intervened. 

On Thursday, she pleaded not guilty to aggravated theft of the cheque book, attempted theft when trying to buy the ferry tickets as well as fraud.

She was also charged with relapsing and breaching four bail decrees. 

Her lawyer explained that the accused was being treated for a mental condition which was the cause of her getting into trouble with the law. 

The woman had a “dual personality” with clear periods and other times when she relapsed.

However, this time she had immediately realised her mistake and tried to make amends by owning up to the victim and offering to reimburse her. 

She had always abided by bail conditions and was herself a victim of usury, argued Bianco when making submissions on bail. 

The prosecution objected to bail not only because of the gravity of the crimes, but also because of the accused’s character and her lack of trustworthiness. 

There were 13 civilian witnesses, namely the person who was robbed and the 12who were defrauded, argued Cassar.

After hearing submissions, Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi declared that the court did not have peace of mind that the accused would follow bail conditions.

There was also the risk of tampering. 

So the bail request was denied.

As for the requested ban on publication of the accused’s name, the court observed that unless the ban were upheld, minors extraneous to the case except for the fact that they happened to be the accused’s children, would suffer consequences through no fault of their own. 

That consideration applied particularly in respect of the minor who, on Friday, was expected to face a school leaving ceremony. 

For this reason, the court ordered a temporary ban on the accused’s name until the end of the week, after which the press would be authorised to disclose the information. 

Inspector Elisia Scicluna also prosecuted. Lawyer Noel Bianco was defence counsel.