Lm30,000 watch seized by police goes missing

A prison inmate has filed a judicial protest holding the director general of the law courts and the Police Commissioner responsible for a Lm30,000-worth Rolex wrist watch that went missing after it was seized by the police 13 years ago.

In the protest, filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court, Charles Steven Muscat said he owned the Rolex that had been seized from his Mosta house during a search in 1994. (In 1994 Mr Muscat had been arraigned and charged with the murder of two men - Emmanuel Sultana and Alfred Grima - during a shooting incident.)

He said he was never given receipts for the watch and other items that had been seized. Now, 13 years later, he filed an application for the watch to be returned to him but it was not found in the strong room at the law courts.

Mr Muscat recalled that the watch had been exhibited in the court case against him and he insisted it had also been produced as evidence during his trial in 1999. (He had been jailed for 25 years after jurors found him guilty of the murder of Mr Sultana and causing the death of Mr Grima when he seriously injured him.)

In the protest Mr Muscat held the director of the courts and the Police Commissioner responsible and liable for damages.

Lawyers José Herrera and Veronique Dalli signed the protest.