Cospicua residents told a court today how they woke up one morning to find their cars coated in minuscule, white flecks of paint following a spraying job  carried out at the Palumbo shipyard. 

They were testifying against Palumbo shipyards director Joseph Calleja, who stands charged with damaging the personal property of various people out of negligence and lack of observance of the regulations in May 2013 and the preceding months. 

Resident Patrick Scicluna told the court how he had bought a new car some nine months previously. 

Being of a metallic silver colour, the white specks of paint were not immediately perceptible - until he realised that the windscreen was coated in "lots of fine, white specks, not unlike a rash". 

A closer inspection revealed that the entire surface of the vehicle was covered with such dots. Running his hand across the car's surface, it felt like "sandpaper", he told Magistrate Aaron Bugeja. 

Speaking to his neighbours, he realised that all the people who had their cars parked in the road by the Vittoriosa seafront had suffered the same problem.

The problem extended beyond his particular road and he decided to follow other people's lead and lodge a police report. 

Mr Scicluna confirmed that no one had been spraying in the immediate vicinity of his car. However, at the time, a large ship at the dockyard was being sprayed white, he recalled. 

"I know this because the ship was of a brown colour and, suddenly, I observed that it had turned white." 

He remembered requesting a quotation for repair works, but could not recall the figure he was given. He had then bought a blue soap of a plasticine-like consistency, costing him €40. 

After two days of incessant scrubbing, he managed to remove the flecks, he told the court.

Retired police constable Jonathan Paris also testified to his car suffering the same problem. He had handled a number of similar police reports himself and had taken a number of the affected vehicles to the police headquarters so that a sample of the paint could be taken. 

His car had been repaired following a buffering job, which cost around €100, he said. 

The case continues.

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