There is no evidence linking George Xuereb to an attempted hold-up at a bank 18 years ago, a defence lawyer told jurors yesterday as he accused the prosecution of “desperately clutching at straws”.

Addressing them for the final time before they deliberate their verdict, lawyer Raphael Fenech Adami said the prosecution had no evidence to pin down his client, so it was resting on contradicting versions that, when summed up, could not find Mr Xuereb guilty of the crime beyond all reasonable doubt, as required by law.

Even the Attorney General himself did not believe the versions of the prosecution’s own witnesses

He said the prosecution was basing its arguments on “fantasies” and using “science fiction” to put the onus on his client using solely circumstantial evidence.

Mr Xuereb, 49, from Marsa, is pleading not guilty to his involvement in the attempted robbery in March 1996. It had been foiled by police who happened to be close by at the time of the robbery. Dr Fenech Adami insisted that to find his client responsible for the crime, the jurors had to ignore all evidence presented by the prosecution during the week-long trial.

He said even the Attorney General himself did not believe the versions of the prosecution’s own witnesses as the Bill of Indictment given to jurors at the beginning of the trial said the crime was committed by three people.

On this point, prosecution lawyer Lara Lanfranco, from the AG’s office, said the bill was prepared in 2009 and was based on information the police had at the time of the investigation.

The evidence and the various testimonies said the crime had been carried out by five people. Even former Police Commissioner John Rizzo, who at the time was an inspector and investigated the case, had said so.

“Your job is not to investigate or draw conclusions on the way the police investigated the case and what questions you would have asked, but to evaluate the strong evidence we showed you here, linking Mr Xuereb to the attempted robbery,” she said.

She insisted that one of the men who had already served time in jail over this crime, Joseph Polidano, “unequivocally” implicated, saying he was in the van that drove away from the scene of the crime after the robbery was foiled by police.

“[Mr] Xuereb was in the van, so he was at the scene of the crime, making him the co-author of this crime,” she said, as she explained to jurors they could find him guilty of being an accomplice to the crime.

Mr Polidano said Mr Xuereb was responsible for the weapons which were in a plastic bag, coincidentally the same plastic bag that was found in the getaway van and which had Mr Xuereb’s fingerprints on it.

“How was Mr Polidano expected to know Mr Xuereb’s fingerprints were on the plastic bag? Is this really a coincidence?” she said.

But Dr Fenech Adami discredited Mr Polidano’s version, saying it contrasted with the version of Carmelo Spiteri, who served time in jail for his involvement in the crime. He said they were three men and had never seen Mr Xuereb before.

The trial continues tomorrow when Mr Justice Michael Mallia sums up the case before the jurors retire to deliberate their verdict.