A 27-year-old man has been cleared of misappropriating a telephone service which had been installed in his apartment but was registered in his neighbour's name.

Steven Satariano, of St Julians, was cleared of all the charges brought against him after the court heard that he had not installed the service himself.

The investigations started after Maltacom had informed the police that a telephone line registered in Victor Cavallo's name had been used even though he reported that he himself had never used that line.

On inspecting Mr Cavallo's apartment, it transpired that the telephone line was connected to a telephone set in Mr Satariano's apartment.

The court heard that Mr Cavallo had had an internet connection installed three years earlier but, on changing his subscription to another service provider, he failed to ask the previous company to remove the line.

When Mr Satariano's father realised that Mr Cavallo's telephone line had been installed in his apartment he paid any outstanding bills. However, when Mr Satariano (senior) left the apartment to live somewhere else his son (the accused) took over and found a telephone line there.

The accused had then called Maltacom to find out what the number of the telephone line was but never got a reply and so he began to use the phone.

Magistrate Antonio Mizzi said that, while it was true that the accused had used the phone, there was no evidence to prove that he had transferred the line himself into his father's apartment.

If he had wanted to change the line and install it into his own apartment he would have needed Mr Cavallo's key to be able to do so. The court, therefore, found Mr Satariano not guilty and acquitted him of all the charges.

Inspector Maurice Curmi prosecuted.

Lawyers Manuel Mallia and Arthur Azzopardi appeared for Mr Satariano.