Three foreigners travelling to Germany on forged travel visas were cleared of all liability in terms of immigration laws after their criminal intent was placed in doubt on account of the very high quality of the fake documents.

Momodu Kamara, 26, alongside his spouse Marrah Sallay, 25, from Sierra Leone, had been prosecuted alongside Eritrean Weini Goitom Fitwi, 30, facing accusations of possession and use of falsified visas, as well as falsifying registration documents under the Immigration Act.

All three had landed in Malta in December on board a flight from Moscow to Germany.

The husband and wife had sought asylum on the island, their plans thwarted when it was discovered that their German visas had been forged. The third member of the trio, Ms Fitwi, was stopped at the departure desk upon discovery that she was carrying a forged visa.

All three were targeted by criminal prosecution, protesting their innocence and insisting that as far as they knew, their travel documents were genuine.

Mr Kamara had explained to police that a certain person called “Doris” had handled the issue of their travel visas, offering her assistance free of charge.

The woman had even accompanied the Sierra Leone couple to Moscow where Mr Kamara’s wife had been enticed to work as a prostitute, an offer she had turned down. The couple had taken up a cleaning job instead.

Being his first experience of travel abroad, Mr Kamara could not tell if his visa was fake.

As for Ms Fitwi, she had told police that as far as she knew, her visa was valid.

In the light of all evidence put forward, the court, presided over by magistrate Audrey Demicoli, observed that although there was no question as to the falsified visas in the accused’s possession, the prosecution had failed to prove that the trio knew that the documents were false and knowingly made use of them.

Failure to prove this conscious decision to breach the law meant that the accused could not be held guilty, the court declared, pointing out that the forgeries had been of such good quality that it was plausible to believe that the accused had not known that the visas were fakes, thereby pronouncing an acquittal.

Lawyer Roberto Montalto was defence counsel.