A car sprayer was cleared of tampering with a vehicle’s chassis number and with handling a stolen windscreen after a magistrate found there was absolutely no evidence to sustain the prosecution’s case.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that none of the evidence brought by the prosecution proved that Brian Galea, 31, from Mosta, had altered the chassis number. Neither had it summoned the person from whom the sprayer had purchased the windscreen that the police was claiming had been stolen.

Mr Galea had been charged in January 2013 after the police, during a surprise inspection at his garage, found a sticker on a vehicle’s windscreen that corresponded with that of a car that had been reported stolen.

The court heard that the police inspected seven cars, including a Peugeot 307, whose chassis number did not match the sticker on the windscreen. The sticker belonged to a car that had been reported stolen in 2010.

Mr Galea from the outset maintained that he had purchased the car, which had been involved in an accident, as a wreck and was working on it in his free time. He told the police he had changed various parts, including the windscreen, which he had purchased from a car parts supplier.

Police Inspector Darren Buhagiar, prosecuting, however insisted that Mr Galea was aware of the supplier’s reputation of dealing in stolen goods and had failed to make the necessary verifications when he bought the parts.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera noted that the police had failed to summon the supplier to testify in court.

She also said that the article of the law under which Mr Galea was charged did not prohibit the use of car parts obtained from other vehicles but dealt with the deliberate tampering with the chassis number, which offence did not result.

Moreover, the court noted that although the police had alleged that the windscreen came from a car that had been reported stolen, they failed to sustain their claim with any evidence.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha appeared for the accused.