A magistrate has cleared a 44-year-old man of misappropriating over €16,000 from his mother after it found that the evidence did not prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

Joseph Tabone, from Attard, had been accused of misapproprating the sum his mother Carmela inherited and gave him for safekeeping.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard how Ms Tabone had filed a criminal complaint against her son in 2007, alleging that he was refusing to return Lm7000 that she had entrusted him with.

Ms Tabone, who has since passed away, had told the court that she inherited the money and gave it to her son, Joseph, to keep it safe until she needed it.

She claimed he had twice refused to return the money; once when she asked for it to buy her house from her landlord, and once when she needed to buy pills.

Having seen the evidence, the court noted that the accusations of misappropriation had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Magistrate Scerri Herrera, therefore, cleared him of the charges.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Scriha represented Mr Tabone. Inspector Ivan Cilia prosecuted.