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Watch: Serial Thief Caught On Camera Breaking Into Gwardamanġa Apartment Block For Fifth Time

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A man has made a criminal habit of breaking into – and robbing – a newly built apartment block in Telgħa ta’ Gwardamanġa, Pieta’.

“You wouldn’t know how stressed we all are,” an apartment owner from the building told Lovin Malta, before adding, “we can’t leave anything in the apartment, we’re always afraid that they’re going to get stolen”.

The apartment block is still a construction site – though it is in the final stages of its preparation.

The owner who spoke to Lovin Malta said: “My apartment is ready, but there’s no water and electricity yet. That’s why he keeps breaking in. There’s nobody in the block, so it’s fairly easy to do so, and to keep doing so”.

“We’ve filed five police reports to the Msida Police station and the police have done nothing. They told us to invest in a security guard for the block.”

Over the course of four months of repeated break-ins, flat owners were forced to take the investigation into their own hands. 

“What we did was have a friend of mine – who has an apartment in another block – hide a camera in the door last Friday, so we finally got an image of this guy” said the resident. 

“We showed it to the police, and we’re hoping that he’s already known to the them,” he continued.

 

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They managed to snap a picture of the man – who has given them ample opportunity to do so.

Not only has he returned to the scene of the crime almost half a dozen times, but he has also repeatedly perpetrated the same crime time and again.

To make matters worse, this robber leaves his mark each time he drops in to pick up whatever he can carry – by damaging points of entry “with a screwdriver, or a metal pipe,” so that they cannot properly be locked.

He can return later to keep taking from the building which – from his perspective – just keeps on giving.

Although police haven’t been particularly helpful, residents have already managed to work out exactly what the perpetrator is doing. 

Locks and doors have been broken and damaged with screwdrivers and other tools, and the terrace door (middle) was removed entirely

Locks and doors have been broken and damaged with screwdrivers and other tools, and the terrace door (middle) was removed entirely

“There’s a wooden main door. What this guy is doing is jumping from a block next door, through their scaffolding. From there he gets to the terraces. Once he’s at the terrace doors, he damages them with a screwdriver so we can’t lock them properly.”

This brazen approach – breaking into a place, robbing it and laying the groundwork for the next break in – doesn’t even stop there. 

“One day he removed the whole door,” the flat owner told Lovin Malta, and then added.

“Another day, I had all my furniture in a room with a padlock on the door. He couldn’t break the padlock, but that didn’t stop him. He couldn’t break the padlock, so he smashed through the wall instead. Unbelievable.”

This seemingly undying commitment to stealing everything from “light fixtures” to “tiles”, “tools” and “toilets” would be impressive if it weren’t coming at the expense of people trying to finish construction and move into their new apartment.

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Pawlu is a journalist interested in Race, Environmental Issues, Music, Migration and Skate Culture. Pawlu loves to swim everyday and believes that cars are an inadequate solution to our earthly woes. You can get in touch at [email protected]

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