Three notorious criminals were today cleared of their involvement in an armed robbery in Marsa in 2004 after a magistrate found that there was insufficient evidence to secure their conviction.
Darren Debono, 38, from Marsascala, known as it-Topo, Alfred Degiorgio, 50, from Marsascala, known as il-Fulu and Vincent Muscat, 53, from Msida, known as il-Koħħu, were today acquitted of an armed hold-up on the employees of Valhmor Borg Ltd in Marsa in March 2004.
Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled that the prosecution’s sole witness in the case was not credible and his testimony was not corroborated in any way by other evidence.
Moreover, the victims could not identify any of the accused either as these were wearing balaclavas.
The prosecution’s witness – Anthony Gafa – worked as a delivery man with the company and had admitted to being an accomplice to the crime after he told police that he had given information to third persons who were linked to the hold-up. He had been handed a suspended sentence in 2004, shortly after the armed robbery during which some €42,000 had been stolen.
The magistrate also considered that the three men were arraigned last year, 10 years after the robbery, making it difficult for any of the witnesses to remember clearly what had happened on the day.
A court heard Mr Gafa explain how he was a deliveryman at Valhmor Borg in 2004. He used to sell meat and would place the day’s earnings in an HSBC money bag before handing it over to the accounts department of the company to deposit the funds. He admitted to having given information to third parties.
When asked by the prosecution whether he could recall telling a CID inspector that he had been approached by a person known as it-Topo three weeks earlier who asked him whether he was still working at Valhmor Borg, Mr Gafa said that he could not recall saying this.
Arthur Guzman, who works as a financial controller for Valhmor Borg Ltd, explained that on March 26, 2004, he was inside his office in Pinto Road, Marsa at around 4pm when two armed robbers wearing balaclavas entered the offices and demanded money.
He said that one of the robbers hit him with a revolver in his head because he had not passed on the cash immediately.
He told the court he could not recognise any of the accused because they had their faces covered.
PC Robert Ebejer told the court that when Mr Gafa was interrogated by police in 2004, the suspect had mentioned three people in his statement - il-Koħħu, il-Fulu and Mr Debono.
Magistrate Scerri Herrera heard how finger prints analysis did not yield any positive results.
She said all these doubts made it impossible for the court to reach the conclusion, beyond reasonable doubt, that the three men had committed the robbery and therefore cleared them of the charges.
Police Inspector Joseph Mercieca prosecuted while lawyer Arthur Azzopardi defended the men.