A woman from Sliema who admitted to using her parents’ bank card to withdraw €60,000 without their consent has been fined €1000 and placed on probation after her parents withdrew their criminal complaint.

In February 2018, 34 year-old Joelle Galea had been charged with theft aggravated by means, time and value, fraudulently using a PIN number belonging to someone else and stealing bank cards from her parents between December 2017 and February 2018. 

Galea, who is unemployed and suffers from drug addiction, was also charged with being in possession of cannabis and ecstasy which the police found following her arrest.

Last year she had been charged with complicity in the hoax bomb threat which brought all Gozo ferry services to a halt.

Police Inspectors Lara Butters and Mark Anthony Mercieca had told the court that Galea had withdrawn some €60,000 from her parents’ APS bank account over a three-month period, using a stolen bank card.

Although the accused had pleaded guilty to the charges during her arraignment, the charge of aggravated theft was later dropped after her parents withdrew their criminal complaint.

Magistrate Charmaine Galea, having seen a presentencing report drawn up by the woman’s probation officer, observed that she was making progress and said that she should be allowed to continue on the right path. The court warned her, however that this would be the “only chance” she was going to be given.

For the other charges, the court fined Galea €1,000 and placed her under a probation order for 3 years.

Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell was defence counsel.