Darren Debono it-Topo, Alfred Degiorgio il-Fulu and Vincent Muscat il-Kohhu were today acquitted by a magistrates’ court of committing an armed hold-up on the employees of Valhmor Borg Ltd in Marsa back in March 2004.

It was said that the three – who wore balaclavas during the hold-up - made off with some Lm18,000 (€41,940) in cash and cheques.

The court ruled that the prosecution’s sole witness in the case was not credible while the testimony of the witness could not be corroborated by anyone and no form of evidence was presented. The victims of the hold-up could not identify any of the accused either.

The prosecution’s witness – Anthony Gafa – worked as a delivery man with the company and had admitted to being an accomplice to the crime after he told police that he had given information to third persons who were linked to the hold-up. He had been handed a sentence back in 2004.

The court also took note of the fact that the three were arraigned in 2014, 10 years after the crime took place and it was hard for anyone to remember exactly what happened so long ago.

Debono, Muscat and Degiorgio stood charged with committing an armed robbery, holding persons against their will, being in possession of weapons and ammunition, and conspiring to engage in an aggravated theft. Debono and Muscat alone had also been charged with relapsing.  

Details of what emerged in court  

A court heard that Mr Gafa had told police in 2004 that he was a delivery man at Valhmor Borg. He used to sell meat and he would place the day’s earnings in an HSBC money bag and hand it over to the accounts department of the company to deposit the funds. He admitted to having given information to third parties on how things worked.

When asked by the prosecution whether he could recall telling a CID inspector that three weeks before the hold-up took place he was approached by a person known as it-Topo who asked him whether he was still working at Valhmor Borg, Mr Gafa said that he could not recall saying these words.

Mr Gafa could not remember that it-Topo had told him that he intended committing a hold-up with some others on a security officer of Group 4 who collected money from Valhmor Borg Ltd either.

Mr Gafa said that he knew it-Topo because he is from Marsa but never met him.

Asked to confirm whether it-Topo drove a hired car – a Hyundai – he replied that he was not aware. He confirmed however that the crime took place shortly after he had left the company during the same month, in March 2004.

During the hearing earlier this year, Mr Gafa was handed a copy of the statement he gave police in 2004 and was asked whether he wanted to change or add anything to his statement but all Mr Gafa said is that he could not remember anything on what happened 10 years ago.

PC Robert Ebejer said that when Mr Gafa was interrogated by police in 2004 Mr Gafa had mentioned three persons in his statement. The three he mentioned are il-Kohhu, l-Fulu and Darren Debono (the three accused of the crime).

Arthur Guzman, who works as a financial controller for Valhmor Borg Ltd, explained that on 26 March 2004, he was inside his office in Pinto Road, Marsa and at around 4 p.m. two armed persons wearing balaclavas entered the offices and demanded money.

He said that the some of the day’s earnings which were meant to be collected by Group 4 security personnel were in front of his colleague at the time of the hold-up. He said that one of the robbers hit him in the head with a revolver since he procrastinated to hand him the money. He said he could not recognise any of the accused because they had their faces covered.

Silvan Ciscadi who worked as an accounts clerk for the import/export company, said that he was preparing the deposits the company received from its customers to be collected by Group 4 security personnel when one of the three armed men pointed a gun at his head and demanded he hands over the money, which he did.

Finger prints elevated from the scene of the crime proved negative also, according to a court expert. It also emerged that the Hyundai mentioned earlier is not believed to have been used in the hold-up.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera presided over the case while lawyer Arthur Azzopardi defended the accused. Police Inspector Joseph Mercieca prosecuted.