A Gozitan man was yesterday jailed for 20 years after jurors found him guilty of complicity in a theft during which his aunt was seriously injured and eventually died more than three years ago.

The jurors, by eight votes to one, found Ivan Cauchi, 25, from Xemxija, guilty of participating as an accomplice in a theft of items valued at more than Lm1,000, qualified by grievous bodily harm and the illegal arrest of Elizabeth Cauchi, 58, which resulted in her death.

With this verdict, the jurors accepted the theory presented before them by the man’s defence lawyer that his client was not alone during the theft and that there was no intention according to law to kill his aunt.

In the bill of indictment issued against him by the Attorney General, Cauchi was charged with the murder of Ms Cauchi on 25 February 2004.

In the second charge, Cauchi was accused of theft aggravated by violence, illegal arrest, voluntary homicide, threatening to kill and theft of items valued at over Lm1,000.

In their verdict, with which the jurors returned after six hours of deliberation, they abstained from pronouncing a verdict on the first charge – that of voluntary homicide – because of the verdict they reached on the second charge.

With regard to the second charge, the jurors returned with a verdict with which they found Cauchi guilty of complicity in a theft of items valued at more than Lm1,000 aggravated by grievous bodily harm followed by death.

This raised legal arguments between the prosecution and the defence because, strictly speaking, this aspect was not provided for in the country’s law and thus the law did not provide the parameters in these circumstances.

Defence lawyer Joseph Mifsud argued that his client should be punished for his complicity in a theft and should get between four and 12 years behind bars.

On the other hand, Senior Counsel to the Republic Anthony Barbara argued that the aspect related to grievous bodily harm followed by death should be seen as an autonomous crime and the accused should therefore be punished with 20 years in jail.

Handing down his judgement late last night, Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono said that there is no loophole in the law and that the parameters of the most serious crime should be applied in this case. He therefore jailed Cauchi for 20 years.

Mr Justice Galea Debono turned down a request for the time Cauchi spent under house arrest to be deducted from his jail term, saying that house arrest (which strictly speaking does not exist according to law) is just a bail condition. However, he ordered that the time Cauchi spent in preventive arrest be deducted from the total jail term. He also ordered Cauchi to pay Lm2,500 in court expenses related to the appointment of court experts for this case.

Referring to the submission of the defence lawyer on his client’s mental condition following the event, Mr Justice Galea Debono said that Cauchi’s depression was a “reactive depression related to the present situation after he was identified as the prime suspect of this case.” He said Ms Cauchi lost her life in the most brutal of ways and the punishment had to reflect the seriousness of the case.

During the week-long trial by jury, jurors heard Cauchi saying that he was not alone when he was at his aunt’s house when she lost her life. He said he was with two people, one wearing the mask of a crocodile and another wearing the mask of a monkey. However, Cauchi refused to mention the names of the two people he was with and protected their identity throughout.

Senior Counsel to the Republic Anthony Barbara prosecuted while Dr Joseph Mifsud appeared for the accused.