A man who stole a pouch containing €350 from a car inside a garage managed to evade the owner who gave chase, but was then recognised when he went to a police station to sign a bail book and came face to face with him, a court heard.

The case happened in the evening of July 30, 2014 when Clinton Dalton made his way into a garage in Triq is-Sajf, St Paul's Bay, after finding the garage door half open.

He grabbed a pouch containing €350 which was on top of a car parked in the garage, and darted out again.

The owner, social worker Mario Salerno heard him and gave chase, but the thief managed to get away.

Half an hour later Mr Salerno was at the police station describing what had happened when Mr Dalton walked in, and Mr Salerno immediately recognised him as the man he had chased.

Mr Dalton had gone to the police station to sign the bail book, since he had previous convictions and other court cases.

In his evidence in court, Mr Salerno said he had also noted Mr Dalton in his street even before the theft took place, and he struck him as being agitated and needing help.  

In handing down judgement, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja said the evidence given by Mr Salerno was detailed, consistent and credible. He discounted defence arguments that the man who committed the theft wore different clothes from Mr Dalton when he called at the police station, noting that Mr Dalton did not live far away and he had plenty of time to change.

The court noted that Mr Dalton had had previous convictions and had ignored opportunities to reform himself. He was therefore jailed for 12 months and ordered to pay Mr Salerno €350.

Magistrate Bugeja however did not find Mr Dalton guilty of having committed a burglary from an apartment in Triq in-Nahal, Mellieha, because the prosecution did not produce enough evidence, such as comparing fingerprints.

During the proceedings it resulted that somebody had entered the apartment from a window in the shaft, stole money from a child's moneybox, and then walked out of the front door.

The resident, Nerida Gail Bonanno, said she had actually been in the apartment at the time. While she was on the phone she heard the front door open and thought her husband had arrived.

As she was heading to the door to open it - since it was locked from the inside - she heard it close once more. She then noticed the open window and realised somebody had been in her apartment.

A footprint was found on the window sill, as well as some fingerprints.

In finding insufficient evidence for a conviction, the court noted that the prosecution had failed to compare  the footprint and fingerprints of the accused with those found on the window sill. He was therefore found not guilty of this burglary.