Four charged with stealing €143,412 worth of food from Lidl

Four former Lidl employees were this morning charged with stealing €143,412 worth of food from the San Gwann supermarket, which they then sold on to other shops. The accused are Roderick Garcia, 28, of Cospicua, Andrea Buzza, 23, of Gudja, David Abela, 27, of Cospicua and Sammy Piscopo, 23, of Fgura. Shop owners Darren Xuereb , 30, of Iklin, and Joseph Vella, 41 of Naxxar were charged with handling stolen property, while Sandro Vella, 33, of Marsascala, was charged with helping the Lidl employees facilitate the theft. Three of the employees, one shop owner and the alleged facilitator pleaded not guilty but employee David Abela and shop owner Joseph Vella admitted to the crime and are awaiting sentencing. Taking the witness stand, Clayton Bugeja Camilleri, who works at San Gwann supermarket said that the theft came to light when accounting discrepancies started to be noticed. These amounted to €89,000 in September, €40,000 in October and €31,000 in December. The figures were sent from Lidl’s warehouse in Sicily and confirmed during stock-taking.  The witness said that he became involved when the company realised something was wrong and stock items were missing. “We were ordering...