A woman swindled her mother out of her life savings and left her without enough money to move into a residential home, a court found on Friday. 

Aloisia Mifsud Grech, 53, withdrew more than €30,000, sold her mother's bonds and stocks and racked up bills at beauty salons, supermarkets and a hotel.

She was jailed and ordered to return the cash and valuables.

The case began when an elderly lady turned up at Birkirkara police station and claimed that one of her daughters, who she had entrusted with a general power of attorney, had withdrawn over €30,000 from her bank accounts.

The mother-of-eight, together with four of her adult children, subsequently reported that Ms Grech had also arbitrarily sold stocks and bonds belonging to her parent, while refusing to return the family’s gold heirloom entrusted into her possession following a rise in charges on bank safety deposit boxes.

The suspected swindler had persisted in her ways even after being informed that her mother had ordered the “immediate” revocation of the power of attorney, five days before being turned out of her mother’s home where she had resided together with her husband up to 2015.

Criminal action was instituted against the woman for misappropriation over a 12-month period between 2014 and 2015.

Conflicting versions of events

In the course of the proceedings, two conflicting versions emerged.

On the one hand, the accused insisted that she had always acted on her mother's instructions, that she had withdrawn money to be shared among all siblings and that the valuables were being held in exchange of personal belongings she had left behind at her mother’s home when ordered out.

On the other hand, there was the testimony of other witnesses, including the damning proof put forward by the "lucid and eloquent" elderly lady.

The accused’s version, riddled with inconsistencies, “lies and tales”, was far-stretched and lacking in credibility, the Court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, observed.

While insisting that she had handed over the money to her mother to be divided between all siblings, the latter had not received “a single penny”.

“She took the bonds and everything,” the mother had testified, “She did not borrow, she stole.”

Her elderly parent had never given the accused a “carte blanche” to do as she pleased with the money, the Court remarked, adding that the accused had not brought a single piece of evidence that payments at various supermarkets, a hotel, a beauty salon and other retail outlets had been with her mother’s blessing.

Over €25,000 had been withdrawn in 48 hours, while there had been regular withdrawals varying between €100 and €500 from the ATM at the Birkirkara Civic Centre, making up a lump sum of €30,466.25, the Court went on.

Repeated calls by her mother and siblings to return the general and special power of attorney, had gone unheeded, the Court noted.

The evidence showed that the accused had taken over her mother’s bank accounts, made free use of her bank card to fuel her personal expenditure, arbitrarily sold her mother’s stocks and bonds, subsequently withdrawing the funds and kept refusing to hand over the family valuables even when asked to do so by the Court.

Such wrongdoing had landed her elderly mother in a situation where she could not afford to seek care at a home, where she had wished to spend the final years of her life, the Court observed, taking this into consideration when meting out punishment.

Declaring the daughter guilty of misappropriation, the Court condemned her to a four-year effective jail term and ordered her to return the €30,466.25 as well as the gold items, stating that the punishment was to serve as a deterrent to those who sought to exploit vulnerable persons who, in old age, were constrained to turn to their trusted ones for help.

The Court also called upon the Police Commissioner to investigate one of the accused’s brothers for possible perjury after concluding that his testimony had been “totally fabricated” in an attempt to corroborate the accused’s version.