Striped shoes nail Cospicua shop robber

In the compilation of evidence against Marflene Cricchola, a gym instructor accused of holding-up a gaming shop, was identified by his shoes and stature.

The case dates to 11 February, when the Cospicua Police station received a report of an armed robbery at a gaming shop in the same locality. 

Cricchola, 28, told the cashier to empty the cash register and to lead him to the safe to retrieve more money.

The cashier had told the police how he noticed that an hour before the incident, a man who did not frequent the place entered the shop. He claimed that this man’s behaviour looked suspicious.

However, the cashier indicated that it could not have been the same person who committed the robbery because the man who came in the store later had a bigger stature and a very particular voice.

He explained that the night before, this same man came into the shop and lost €1,000 in gambling.

The police had asked the cashier if he would be able to identify a particular person, to which he answered that Marflene Cricchola fitted the description perfectly.

During a search later that same night, the police saw the car which belongs to the accused, a Honda CRX. Stopping by the car, the police waited for Cricchola to return.

Allegedly, the accused asked whether he had been stopped because of the hold-up that had taken place just an hour earlier.

Inspector Josric Mifsud explained that, from the CCTV footage of the shop, the police could notice that the thief was wearing a pair of shoes with very particular stripes on the side. Going through his Facebook profile, the Police confirmed that Cricchola owned the same pair of shoes.

CCTV cameras also showed that at one point, while entering the shop, the robber hit a metal box. Inspector Mifsud said that the accused has a scratch on his right arm.

Case will continue on 25 of January.