Birżebbuġa Woman Who Locked Flatmate In Filthy Room With Dogs For Hours On End Gets Suspended Sentence
A 38-year-old woman has been handed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, after she was found guilty of locking a woman with intellectual disabilities up in a foul-smelling room for hours on end, TVM has reported.
The court case against Anna Maria Jimenez has been going on for several years, with prosecuting officer Joseph Busuttil first testifying about the disturbing case way back in 2015.
He said back then that police started investigating after the woman with an intellectual disability reported her flatmate to Appoġġ.
She alleged that Jimenez had been abusing her for nine years, locking her up in her bedroom with two dogs and a bucket to be used as a toilet for up to 17 hours a day.
Jimenez, who worked as a hospital cleaner would allegedly lock her flatmate’s door at around 10pm and open it upon her return from work at around 3pm.
She would then feed her flatmate, clean her room and give her Playmobil parts to put together, which she would then exchange for money at the Playmobil factory.
Playmobil officials confirmed in court that Jimenez was paid for putting together around 2,000 dolls a day.
Several years after the case ended up in court, Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit today found Jimenez guilty of locking her flatmate up and extorting her for rent money.
However, she was found not guilty of assaulting and injuring her as no medical certificates were presented to confirm the nature of her alleged injuries.
She was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence, suspended for three years.
This isn’t Jimenez’ first brush with the law. Back in 2016, she was sentenced to four years in prison after she was found guilty of having lived off of the earnings of the prostitution of a 15-year-old girl.
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