A man who, almost eight years ago was involved in a robbery from an auto centre in Mosta, has been sentenced to a jail term of 24 months after the court observed that, in spite of having been given several chances to mend his ways, he persisted in his unruly lifestyle.

Jeffrey Cassar, 33, was convicted of aggravated theft, voluntary damage to third party property, relapsing and breaching an earlier probation order.

The case dated back to the night of February 28, 2010 when an anonymous call reached the Mosta police station informed duty officers that there had been ‘a loud noise of shattered glass’ from the direction of the shop in Independence Avenue.

The caller said that four youths had been spotted running away from the store towards a getaway car.

Police converging on site found the shop owner who informed that that eight spray guns worth some €1836 had gone missing from the shop window after the thieves allegedly smashed the glass through the iron shutter, grabbing the tools displayed on the window shelves.

Three years elapsed before the police received a tip-off regarding the accused’s involvement in the robbery.

Following the suspect’s arrest, his fingerprints were found to match those lifted from a plastic container displayed in the shop window at the time of the theft.

When testifying in court, the man had alleged that he had been a regular customer, visiting the store to buy paint and occasionally handling items which he subsequently did not purchase.

However, the court was not convinced of this explanation, pointing out that the accused was not credible and that his testimony was not corroborated by evidence.

The shop owner’s son, who managed the daily running of the store, declared that he had never set eyes upon the accused and besides, the shop window was always kept under lock and key.

Upon the basis of all the evidence produced and in view of the accused’s ‘voluminous criminal record’, the court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, declared the accused guilty and condemned him to a jail term of 13 months.

The court imposed a further 11-month jail term for the breach of the Probation Order, which brought the total punishment to 24 months imprisonment.