Fingerprints give thief away
A 49-year-old man whose fingerprints were found on a car was today convicted of having broken into the car and stealing a briefcase. He was jailed for 14 months.
Joseph Zammit had pleaded not guilty and said he had only leaned on the car the day before it was broken into, when he went to pick up his daughter from Gzira, where the car was parked.
Francis Stivala, the owner of the Renault Megane, said a quarter window had been smashed and a briefcase was missing. Mr Stivala said the things in the briefcase were worth between €50 and €70.
Magistrate Doreen Clarke said she did not believe the version of events given by the accused and jailed him for 14 months after taking into consideration that he had also relapsed.
6 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
P Pace Balzan
Nov 26th 2009, 10:06
To All
My car was once checked for fingerprints.
This was app 16years ago.
There was no priviledge involved, the police wanted to actually sort out a string of thefts occuring in a particular locality.
In my case the results proved useless.
marthese mussett
Nov 26th 2009, 06:52
@Philip Grech.I sympathize.I can imagine a bored looking policeman behind the desk saying that.while yawning and making you feel as tf youre the nuisance, and not the culprit himself.
Emanuel Bartolo
Nov 25th 2009, 23:04
Same thing happened to me last March.
Thieves broke into my home in broad daylight when I had to go out for only 2 hours.
Apart from nicking all our jewelery, they stole a 37inch lcd and a brand new laptop. They left all the lights in the rooms on, and when I asked for fingerprints from the light switches the man in charge told me that it was useless.
We still haven't heard anything and we are still suffering from this trauma.
C Vella
Nov 25th 2009, 22:30
@Philip Grech
Some Poeple are more privilaged then others! That's the country we are living it! HELLO!!
C. Schembri
Nov 25th 2009, 20:49
@ Philip Grech: It is possible to send your car for lifting of fingerprints. At least, I had a cousin who did so. The only disappointing thing was the time it took to recover the car itself.
Philip Grech
Nov 25th 2009, 19:47
I wonder what Mr. Stivala did to have his car examined for fingerprints. Some time ago my son's car was broken in (from in front of our house)by pulling the upper part of the door. Apart from the damage, on initial inspection, the back shelf with speakers, a pair of sunglasses worth at the time LM90 and driving gloves were missing. When he returned after about an hour to the police station to update his report, after he found more things missing, he was told not to expect that the culprit/s be caught. Apart from possible fingerprints there was a clear footprint on the door. No one bothered to even have a look.