Boys are caught jumping on cars

A 29-year-old Sliema resident was shocked to find his car’s bonnet badly dented when he woke up on Friday after the previous night’s victory by Italy over Germany in the Euro 2012 championship.

The first thought that came to Ryan Mintoff’s mind was that his two-year-old Mazda had come in the way of revellers. But when he and his girlfriend, Lorella Farrugia, saw CCTV footage from a hostel on Melita Street a week later, they realised that the damage had been caused by two young boys at about 10 p.m.

One of the boys could be seen jumping from one car to another, not far from the St Gregory parish church. A third boy carrying a backpack appeared to have jumped from a car onto the pavement earlier.

Three other cars had footprints on them but Mr Mintoff’s silver Mazda suffered the most damage. Ms Farrugia said the estimated cost to repair the dents exceeded €400.

The police were informed about the damage on June 29.

After watching 18 hours of recorded footage this week, Ms Farrugia was surprised to find out that the vandals were two young boys.

“I was shocked, because you’d expect someone who’s drunk to do that. We usually blame students in Paceville but this time it was two young boys jumping on cars in a quiet residential area away from the town’s chaotic hub,” Ms Farrugia said.

In August, two French students were conditionally discharged for a year after they apologised for jumping on a car and causing about €800 damage in Paceville.

This is not the first case where residents woke up to find dent-ed cars. Last month, a number of St Julians residents noted that their cars had been damaged overnight. At least three cars had dents on their roofs and bonnets and another had a smashed windscreen.

People who have any information on the incident are asked to cont­­act Mr Mintoff on rmint46@gmail.com or the Sliema police station on 2133 2282.