Two men were yesterday cleared of theft from a factory after a court ruled that the accused thought they were merely lifting wood from an abandoned factory, and that the prosecution had made an error in the charges pressed against them.

Nicholas Piscopo, 52, from Tarxien and Emanuel Mangion, 34, from Fgura, were accused of stealing wood from a factory in San Gwann on 9 March 2004.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Lawrence Quintano, heard how the factory was in a state of dilapidation, was not locked and looked like it had been abandoned, judging that the accused thought they were merely helping themselves to leftover wood. The door to the factory was also open.

The court also noted that the date of the alleged crime was on 9 March, however, the accused’s statements were taken on 4 March, hours after they were arrested by the police. The court ruled that the prosecution never asked for a correction in the date and that as a result there was no proof that the accused stole items on 9 March. They were therefore cleared on those two grounds. Police inspector Angelo Caruana prosecuted while Dr Ian Farrugia appeared for the accused.