Conditional discharge for using falsified VRT certificate

A magistrate’s court found 58-year-old William Stride from Gzira guilty of knowingly making use of a falsified VRT certificate, in one of a series of cases related to the 2009 discovery of over 1,400 discrepancies in the VRT certification system.

One of the vehicles affected by the discrepancies was registered under Stride’s name and he voluntarily submitted to police questioning. Declining the opportunity to consult a lawyer, Stride explained to the police that he had taken his vehicle to the Car Wise garage in Gzira for a service and the mechanic had assured him that, after inspecting the vehicle in question, he had found no issues. He had taken up the mechanic’s suggestion that he take his vehicle to Car Clinic for certification as it was nearby.

Jonathan Spiteri, a Car Clinic employee who, in separate proceedings, was found guilty of issuing VRT certificates for cars that had not been tested, had signed the certificate. The false certificate was subsequently entered into the ADT system and the accused had used it to renew the vehicle’s road licence.

Stride’s testimony had indicated that he was aware that no test had actually been carried out.

The court was satisfied that the accused could not have fabricated the certificate himself and that it was therefore, not a case of forgery, but one of making use of a falsified document.

In delivering judgment, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera quoted Chief Justice emeritus Sir Anthony Mamo, in saying that “an intention merely to deceive… is sufficient” and that the intention to defraud did not require to be proved, “because such intention is presumed by the law from the very fact of the forgery.”

The court declared Stride guilty, but in sentencing also took into account several mitigating factors, in particular the fact that Stride did not make any financial gain from the crime.

Stride was placed under a probation order for two years.