A man who had been charged in connection with the theft of €233,000 worth of jewellery items from a Portomaso shop in 2007 has been acquitted of all charges by a court due to insufficient evidence.

Romeo Bone, 40, from, Floriana was arraigned following an armed robbery carried out by two men from Diamonds International which was part of Luxe Pavilion, on February 8  of nine years ago. Furthermore, Mr Bone had also been charged with the theft of a number of vehicles, registration plates, handling stolen goods, filing a false declaration and relapsing.The defendant had been arraigned on the strength of the fingerprints found on the battery of a car which was blocking a police vehicle, at the St Julian’s police station on the day of the hold-up.During proceedings, a salesgirl had pointed to Mr Bone as one of the two robbers who took part in the haul. However, she remarked that her conclusion had been drawn on the basis of the “resemblance” of Mr Bone’s facial features to the man who was waiting by the door, whose face was covered in women’s tights.  Yet, when an identification parade was held just five days after the theft, the witness did not identify him.The salesgirl also testified that she had not recognised the other man wearing a cap who looted the shop. Another salesgirl, could not identify any of the suspects.

The court also noted that a bus driver had witnessed two persons in a blue boiler suit fleeing away from the scene, while other witnesses described the thieves as wearing a blue security officer uniform.  Furthermore, when questioned by the police the bus driver recognised the accused, but had no recollection of him in court.  Once again, the bus driver did not identify Mr Bone during an identification parade. It also transpired that CCTV footage was of no help, as none of the thieves could be identified.

In its decision the court presided by Magistrate Neville Camilleri expressed itself perplexed about the fact that two witnesses initially identified the defendant as one of the thieves, but did not recognise him during an identification parade.

The court also noted that apart from the fingerprints on the car battery, no other fingerprints were found, not even in the getaway vehicle. This piece of evidence alone could never be sufficient to convince the court that the defendant had some form of involvement in this case, especially when considering that the battery could have been replaced, the magistrate said.

Furthermore, none of the stolen items were found in his possession and Mr Bone’s police statement was not given any weight as it had been taken when his lawyer had not been present.

Consequently, the court declared that the prosecution had not produced sufficient evidence to prove the charges and so the defendant was declared not guilty.

Lawyer Kathleen Grima was defence counsel whereas police inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Stephen Mallia prosecuted.