Gram Jewellers owner cleared of buying stolen jewels

Jeweller George Tabone of Gram jewellers has today been declared not guilty of buying €350,000 worth of stolen jewellery.

The jewellery was stolen from Piazza Antiques Ltd in August 2011.

Piazza Antiques owner Alfred Borg had testified how he had received a call from the police about a theft from his shop in August 2011 .

Upon arriving at the shop, he compiled an inventory of the missing items - thought to exceed €500,000 - and handed it to the police. Not one item of jewellery had been recovered.

Glen Debattista, one of three people who had broken into Borg’s shop, said that after the theft the thieves had gone to a house and split everything between them and that he had sold his and his son’s share to the accused. 

He said that they had told the jeweller that the items were stolen and they were sold to him in four consignments in Lidl shopping bags.  

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona however found the man not guilty after taking into account the lack of credibility of Debattista, a main prosecution witness. 

The court also noted that none of Tabona's employees had seen Debattista in the shop, selling the stolen items to the accused, and thus there was nothing tying the accused to the charges.

Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha were defence counsel to Tabone.