Fingerprints prove to be insufficient evidence in car thief case

A 30-year-old man from Valletta was cleared of the charges brought against him related to theft, as the court ruled the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to incriminate him.

Glenn Bezzina was reported to have stolen CDs, limited edition from a car which was parked in Old Bakery Street, Valletta. The incident took place in January 2003. Bezzina was also charged with breaking into a car and damaging private property.

However, the sentence delivered by Magistrate Josette Demicoli, notes that insufficient proof was presented to confirm that the culprit was indeed Mr Bezzina.

The court heard how on 8 January 2003, Clinton Bezzina went to file a police report at the police station in Valletta. He had told the police how he went to get into his car on 9 January in morning, but saw that it was broken into and that his two limited-edition CDs were missing. It appeared that the thief, who broke into the car, forcefully opened the right-side door to get inside.

According to the victim, the value of the CDs stolen amounted to Lm150 (around €340). Mr Bezzina asked the police to dust for fingerprints from the site. The police, did in fact manage to extract finger prints which belonged to Glenn Bezzina, the suspect.

However, Magistrate Demicoli ruled that the fingerprints on their own, do not constitute sufficient proof. Moreover, the court noted that the finger prints were extracted from the outside of the car, not inside.

The court ruled that the accused lived in the vicinity, and therefore was not impossible to have fingerprints on a car parked close by.

Ruling that insufficient evidence was provided, the court decided to free Mr Bezzina from the charges brought against him.