A man was yesterday cleared of staging a hold-up on his shop in Valley Road in January 2002 and defrauding an insurance agent because a court ruled that there was conflicting evidence and therefore could not determine his guilt.

Carmel Joseph Farrugia, 55, from Marsascala, was cleared because the court ruled that the case had not been proven according to law and that the lurking doubts precluded the court from determining guilt.

Mr Farrugia had been charged along with Anthony Farrugia, 44, from Luqa, who in 2003 was cleared of most of the charges brought against him but was found guilty of filing a false statement with the police. He had been conditionally discharged for three years.

The file of Carmel Farrugia’s case was one of those which was damaged when a fire engulfed magistrate Antonio Mizzi’s office on 14 July 2004.

The court heard how on 29 January 2002, the police were informed of a hold-up at Antsat in Msida. During their investigations, the police spoke to Anthony Farrugia who had said that when he went to the shop, he found Carmel Farrugia taped to a chair outside the shop.

When the police continued to investigate, they suspected that something was wrong and believed that the story had been made up.

The court heard that in his first version to the police, Anthony Farrugia said that he left the showroom at around 2.30pm to run an errand and returned an hour later. He said he called Carmel Farrugia on his mobile but he did not reply and then called his wife and his son.

In his second version, Anthony Farrugia said that around 15 days before, Carmel Farrugia approached him with the idea of faking a hold-up and said that the accused had hidden a number of documents, a computer server and a safe.

He also told police that it was him who had taped Carmel Farrugia to the chair before he went to run his errand.

On his part, Carmel Farrugia always denied this version and insisted that he was in the shop when four armed and hooded men stormed inside and demanded money. He first gave them his wallet but them eventually handed over a briefcase containing some Lm43,000.

Handing down his judgement, magistrate Mizzi said that one of the charges – that the accused tried to defraud an insurance agent – could not stand because no evidence was brought to prove that there was an insurance policy.

Magistrate Mizzi said that on the other charges, the court heard two opposing versions—that of Anthony Farrugia and that of the accused.

He said that there was reasonable doubt on the facts of the case and therefore the court could not declare Carmel Farrugia guilty. He therefore cleared him of all the charges brought against him.

Police Inspector Silvio Valletta prosecuted while Dr John Vassallo appeared for the accused.