A 32-year-old man from Cospicua has been cleared of a 2003 theft after a magistrate ruled that the prosecution had not managed to prove its case after one of the eyewitnesses died before giving evidence.

Alan Grima had been charged with stealing two 10-inch speakers from a Ford Escort, stealing two power tools from a van, damaging the vehicles, driving without a car licence and insurance and relapsing.

The court heard how the owner of the van had reported seeing Mr Grima in a car owned by his partner on the night the vehicle was broken into. He claimed that he gave chase in his car but Mr Grima managed to escape.

But Mr Grima’s partner, Carmen Grech, told the court that her boyfriend was at home asleep that night because they had been drinking the previous evening.

A witness, Amadeo Pace, did not testify in court and died during a traffic accident.

In view of this Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that the prosecution had not managed to prove its case which was built on hearsay evidence. She ruled that the other witness had not witnessed the actual crime but had simply reported seeing the defendant at the scene.

She therefore cleared Mr Grima of the charges. Inspector Anthony Cassar prosecuted.