Three former employees at a wines and spirits shop received a suspended two-year jail term after they admitted to stealing €88,000 worth of cigarette cartons from their employer.

The three men – 47-year-old Cospicua resident Victor Scerri, his 22-year-old son Manuel and 21-year-old Kalkara resident Emanuel Meilak – were working at the Antonio Piscopo Wines & Spirits outlet in Paola when they stole the cigarette cartons, a few at a time, between February 2012 and May 2013.

This pilferage was however noticed in the company’s accounts, and investigations led to the arrest of the three men.

The three were set to admit to the crime, but the defence insisted that the value of the thefts should be confirmed before a definite sentence was handed down.

The sitting was thus adjourned to allow for the company’s managing director, Tarcisio Piscopo, to make it to court.

Mr Piscopo noted that the company’s audited accounts showed that some €53,400 worth of cigarettes had been stolen until the end of 2012, and that an estimated €35,000 had been stolen between January and May this year. He said that this estimate could not vary by more than some €300, and thus confirmed that the company was seeking €88,000 in damages.

After taking their early guilty plea into account, Magistrate Edwina Grima sentenced the three men to a two-year jail term suspended for four years each, and ordered them to repay the company €29,334 each within six months.

Inspector Michael Mallia prosecuted.