A man who was accused of stealing a quantity of copper wire and other items from a scrapyard in Luqa, was acquitted today after a court held that he was not sufficiently identifiable from footage taken by security cameras.
Kenneth Ellul, 36 of Paola was accused of stealing from the scrap yard in April.The total value of the haul was of more than €2,333. He was also accused of handling stolen goods.
Footage showed a man rummaging in the scrap yard and throwing items over the gate to another man who was waiting near a car.
The owners of the scrap yard, Charles and Paul Cremona, said they recognised the accused as the one who had entered the scrap yard. They said he had previously called at the scrapyard to sell them items.
The prosecution said that on the day after the theft, the accused called at Borda Urpani dealers and sold them 700 kilos of copper.
The court said that after viewing the images, it was acquitting the accused because of doubts about his identity as seen on the footage.