Church thief has sentence reduced after parish priest forgives him

A drug addict who stole antique jewellery from the Żabbar church after scaling scaffolding outside the building has had four months reduced from his three year jail term after the parish priest forgave him. Aaron Axisa, 27, of Xgħajra, had stolen six rings, two bracelets, two necklaces, a pair of earrings, which have not yet been recovered. The theft took place on November 21, 2009, from the statue of Our Lady of Graces at the town's parish church. The theft had gone unnoticed until the first Sunday Mass at 6 a.m. when Fr Sebastian Caruana, the parish priest, went to open the tabernacle during Holy Communion. It was then that he realised the lock had been tampered with and he immediately called the police. Soon afterwards, Fr Caruana also found that the lock of the statue's niche had been broken and the jewellery on the Madonna was missing. Money and old bank notes were also stolen. Taking the witness stand, Fr Caruana said that the damage to the tabernacle amounted to €2,000 and he forgave Mr Axisa. Because a theft had already occurred, Fr Caruana, had placed the bank notes in the collection box and recorded the serial numbers. He alerted the Central Bank that someone might...