Three men acquitted of 2004 Marsa hold-up

Three men have been acquitted of charges related to a 2004 hold-up in Marsa in which some €42,000 (LM18,000) were stolen, on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Daren Debono it-Topo, Vincent Muscat il-Koħħu and Alfred Degiorgio il-Fulu had been accused of stealing cash and cheques from Valhmor Borg Import/Export Ltd in a hold-up which took place at the company’s Marsa offices in March 2004.

The men were additionally charged of holding persons against their will and firearms offences. Debono and Muscat had also been charged with recidivism.

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the testimony of Anthony Gafa, a former driver with the company who had pleaded guilty to assisting the men in planning the heist. Gafa had been handed a suspended sentence for his part in the crime.

Gafa had told the investigating police inspector that around three weeks before the hold-up, he had been approached by it-Topo who had informed him that he, together with il-Koħħu, il-Fulu and Darren Debono, had been planning to rob a security van picking up cash from the company.

He had told police that he had met men “who went by those nicknames” at Amico Bar in Marsa.

But when called to testify in court, ten years after the events, Gafa initially said he could not recall saying this, nor could he recall ever meeting it-Topo. Similarly, he claimed not to recognise il-Koħħu  or il-Fulu, although he “had heard of them.” He was eventually declared a hostile witness by the prosecution.

In a judgment acquitting the accused trio, magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted with dismay that the hold up had taken place ten years before any of the other witnesses had been called to testify – a delay which the magistrate said was not attributable to the courts nor to the accused.

While Gafa may well have been an accomplice, his testimony was weak and uncorroborated, said the magistrate, noting that the prosecution had not even held an identification parade for Gafa to single out the suspects. “This is a shortcoming on the part of the prosecution," said the magistrate, saying it had "waited ten years to summon the witnesses to testify.”

Additionally,no forensic evidence had successfully linked the men to the crime and the employee who handed over the loot could not recognise the accused because the robbers had been hooded. 

As Gafa’s testimony had not been corroborated with any other evidence, the court had not option but to declare the men - who are all notorious criminals- innocent.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi defended the accused. Inspector Joseph Mercieca prosecuted.